I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.! ' 

#|l«P ■ •-|wisM,|o # 

$ ^=^/^e^ --■-•.. ^^ I 



J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. | 



BUSSING HOOTS. 



* 



Lying and Making Liars. 



SATAl^ IN THE PULPIT-IN THE PEESS. 



Swords and Fires, Fires and Swords. " 



Gospel Fires— Fires of the Gospel. 

Little Mary in a Nut 'Shell. 

" Home is the resort 
Of love, of joy, of peace, and plenty, where 
Supporting and supported, polished friends 
And dear relations, mingle into bliss." 

Children trained in Wisdom's ways, truth and love from infancy, are happy all the 

day, cheerful, joyous. " The ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and all her 

paths are peace." 

" Love through all their actions run, 

And all their words are mild ; 

I ^ They're like the blessed virgin's Son, 

That sweet and lovely child." 'v - { , y t -C ■ 



II_iI_iXJSTFL^^TE!ID. 



This new and beautiful vohime will contain between two and three 

himdred pages. 

Price per copy, g-ilt, $1.50; plain, $100; in paper covers, 75 etc. 

Postage, 15 cents. C^^ Large discount to Agents. 

Address :^uthor 0/ ^' Swo7'd that Cuts/^ etc, 

303 W^est TwentietU Street, New Yorlt, 

o 

* " And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees : therefore everv tree which 
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into tiie fire." — Math, iv. xo. 




TO 

Our beloved Brother Simeon Newton, and his little daughter Mary, 

This Volume is affectionately inscribed. 



Make your home a little Eden ; 

Imitate her smiling bowers ; 
Let a neat and simple cottage, 

Stand among bright trees and flowers. 
There, what fragrance and what brightness. 

Will each blooming rose display ; 
Here a simple vine-clad arbor 

Brightens through each summer day. 

There each heart will rest contented, 

Seldom wishing far to roam ; 
Or, if roaming, still will cherish 

Memories of that pleasant home. 
Such a home makes man the better — 

Pure and lasting its control : 
Home with pure and bright surroundings 

Leaves its impress on the soul. '* 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S72, by 

D. Y. Newton, 

ID the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



ooisra?E!isrTS 



Page 

LiTTLK Samuel 5 

The Christian Mother 6 

Little Mary at her Morning Devotions. 7 
Little Mary at her Morning Walk .... 8 

Grand Pa Talking 10 

The Shepherd and his Flock 11 

Little Mary and Aunty 12 

Preaching is he ? 13 

Little Boy behind the Tree 14 

The Praying Boy 16 

Little Mary and her Father 17 

Busy Folks 19 

Swords and Fires — Fires and Swords. . 22 

Is this Little Mary ? 29 

Fiery Serpents 32 

Lying and Making Liars — No. i 34 

No. 2 44 

No. 3 55 

Wheat and not Chaff 61 

Little Mary Reading with Mother .... 64 

Satan in — Satan out. — No. i 69 

The Lovely Susan 75 

Satan in — Satan out. — No. 2 80 

No. 3 88 

No. 4 96 

No. 5 104 

No. 6 HI 

No. 7 117 

Little Mary and her Mother 124 

Satan in — Satan out. — No. 8 127 

Wide Awake and Popular 135 

The best Food for the Mind 140 

Teaching Little Mary 144 

Tables Turned 149 

Little Mary at her Bible Lesson 155 

Lying Meditated, Calculated, etc 160 



Page 

What Book is this ? 167 

White Lying to prevent Black Lying. . 172 

Satanic Transformations 180 

Testimony of T. De Witt Talmage 182 

Dr. W, H. Vandoren...i83 

Truth and Lying 186 

Sacred Music in Public Worship 18S 

Nursing Little Folks 196 

Moulding " 198 

Sitting down to Eat, and rising up 

to Play . r 199 

Amusements 218 

A Pious Father 219 

Spying the Nakedness of the Land. . . . 220 

Busy Folks 227 

Winning Little Folks 228 

November 232 

Woman at Home 233 

His Fingers are Cold 234 

Attempt to Poison Children 235 

December 237 

Putting Razors to Children's Throats . 238 

Killed with a Hatchet 240 

Educating Little Mary 243 

Savor of Life — Savor of Death 243 

Can't Folks and Won't Folks 248 

Kindling Heavenly Fires 25 1 

" No. 2 267 

Josiah in Kingly Robes 269 

Light Under a Bushel 271 

Christ ! Christ ! 284 

Talking without Saying Anything ! 292 

Educating Little Folks 296 

A Closing, Loving Appeal to Editors 

and Publishers 303 

Sowing Good Seed 1 311 




The Wisdom of King Solomon — 1 Kings iii. 16-28. 

*' And the king said, Divide the Hying child in two, and give half 
to the one, and half to the other." 




liittle Samuel. — 1 Sam. i. 28. 



See Samuel on his knees ! How very early he began to 
bow thus in suppHcating a throne of grace is not recorded ; 
but this we do know, his whole life was bright and shining I 
Please turn to the books of Samuel, 1st and 2d. 




This Christian mother impai^ting light, spintuol, from the 
holy Scriptures ! Wliat else ? Sweet little Mary is listen- 
ing, as you see, with ears and eyes wide open. Happy little 
one ! blessed ! " They that seek me early shall find me." 
Prov. yiii. 17. 

*' God is in heaven ; can He hear 
A little child like me ? 
Yes, little child, thou need'st not fear, 
He'll listen e'en to thee. 

God is in heaven ; can He see 

When I am doing wrong ? 
yes, He can ! He looks at thee 

All day and all night long. 

God is in heaven ; wonld He know 

If I should tell a lie? 
Yes, if thou said'st it soft and low, 

He'd hear it in the sky.'* 




liittle Mary at lier Morning Devotions. • 

" Let your first thoughts by morning light 
Ascend to God on high ; 
And in the evening raise your thoughts 
Above the stany sky." 

Little Mary pray ? Go to the Lord for guidance, 
wisdom and grace? Supplicate a throne of mercy in 
faith, in the name of Jesus, for herself and for others? 

Assuredly, morning, noon and at even tide ; sooner 
would she dispense with her regular meals — breakfast, 
dinner and supper. See her at it at early dawn, ere 
the sun streaks the east. 

* ' Wake while yet the sparkling dewdrops 
Gem each flower's tiny bell ; 
Kneel with calm and thankful spirit — 
Kneel and breathe thy morning prayer.*' 




I*ittle Mary at lier Morning Walk. 

" ^ Mid fruits and flawers—the singing of birdsJ** 

Beautiful ! What more ? 

The lark is up to meet the sun. 

The bee is on the wing ; 
The ant his labor has begun. 

And groves with music ring. 

The morning air adds brightness to the blood, 
freshness to life, and vigor to the whole frame. " The 
freshness of the lip is one of the surest signs of health." 
Would you be well, enjoy health, life, vigor of soul 
and body? have your heart dance joyfully like the 
April breeze, and your blood flowing like an April 
brook? Up wdth the lark ! inhale the pure sweetness 
of early dawn ! 



LITTLE MARY AT HER MORNING WALK. 

*' Wake while yet the sparkling dew-drops 

Gem each flowret's tiny bell— 
With the joyous woodland warblers, 

Loud their grateful chorus swell — 
Kneel with calm and thankful spirit, 

Kneel and breathe thy morning prayer." 

See, morever, little " Trip '' is keeping sweet Mary 
company ; taking the lead friskingly. 

Kise early ! Up betimes ? Who questions it ? Sleep ? 
dozes away the precious golden season — the prime ot 
day — when all nature is alive, and on the wing — the 
merry songsters, — the tuneful lark, the blue bird and 
robbin red breast. Wake, wake ! — wake up, little 
sleepers — up and on your knees ere the sun streaks the 
east! 

" Wake ! for behold the rising light 
Of morning gilds the sky ! 
Its glories call for thankful songs, 
For action, prompt and high." 

Prayer is called for— searching the Scriptures — the 
first thing. All the most eminently distinguished for 
elevated piety and usefulness have been early risers. 
The Lord Jesus, our great Exemplar, not only spent 
whole nights in prayer, but, also, " in the morning, 
rising up a great while before day, he went out, and 
departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." See 
Mark i. 25, and no doubt that this was his frequent 
custom. Mark, too, those who first visited the tomb 
of our blessed Lord. Who were they ? what the hour 
of this visitatation ? before the dawn, " while it was 
yet dark." Their souls were kindled, lighted up in 
a flame most holy. 







What is Gkandpa doing? Talking to these little girls 
about the way of salvation tkrough the sufferings and 
death of bleeding Mercy! — the happy land where saints 
immortal reign ! Is httle Mary among the attentive Hsten- 
ers ? Look and see. Millions on milhons of the httlest of 
the httle have been washed white ia the atoning blood of 
the Lamb, and are now tuning their golden harps around 
the throne of God melodiously. 

And one special object of grandpa is, doubtless, to enlist 
as many httle folks and big folks as he possibly can on the 
side of the Lord Jesus. Happy meeting ! Glorious won't 
it be when both grandpa and these httle ones meet face to 
face in the kingdom above, where parting will be no more ! 

"Around the throne of God in heaven 
Thousands of children stand, 
Children whose sins are all forgiven, 
A holy, happy band, 

Singing glory, glory, glory." 

10 




Tlie Slieplierd and tlie Slieep. 

^^ Jesus is the good Shepherd,'' — John 10th. 

"Jesus loves a little child; 
He was lowly, meek and mild." 

** He will feed his flock like a shepherd : he will gather the lambs 
with his arms, and carry them in his bosom." 

How sweet it is, dear Mary, to be a little one whom Jesus 
loves, and how happy mnst those Httle ones be that know 
his love and prize it ! How happy a thing it would be, if 
every httle one were a lamb of the great and good Shepherd ! 
And why should it not be so ? Each one is invited to come 
to Jesus. If you would be happy, come to this great and 
loving Shepherd, who ca-rries the lambs in his arms. Seek 
now your Saviour in the days of your childhood ; you will 
then be happy for life and prepared for death. This would 
not be the mere dehght of the moment, as your pleasures 
now are ; it would be eternal happiness, eternal joy. 

*The Shepherd sought his sheep, 

The Father sought his child ; 

They followed me o'er vale and hill, 

O'er deserts waste and wild." 

11 




liittle Mary and Axmty. 



•'On that cheek and o'er rhat brow, 
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, 
The smiles that win, the tints that glow, 
But tell of days in goodness spent." 

What is aunty talking about or saying to her sweet, 
smiling little niece ? 

How good and gracious God is ! How much the Lord 
Jesus loves sinnei^s, the biggest and the httlest ! How 
exceedingly desirous he is that all should come to him — 
8x3cept offered mercy through the shedding of his own 
precious blood ! 

Is not this beautiful? worthy the imitation of every 
aunty? The more httle folks and great folks talk with 
Jesus and about Jesus, " the way, the timth, and the life," 
the more will they dehght in it a great deed. 




Preaching is he 1 AVliat about 1 

The Saviour, wlio died on Calvary, to save little folks as 
weU as the big folks? Is little Mary in the audience? 
Young friends, do you know how lovingly the dear Saviour — 
the Lamb of God — welcomes httle children to his happy 
fold ? He numbers the lambs among his flock. " Suffer 
little children to come unto me, and forbid them, not, for of 
such is the kingdom of God." Luke xviii. 16. 

Dear children, now is the spring-time of your lives, be 
sure to plant choice seeds, which may burst forth in beauty, 
bloom, and bear "the peaceable fruits of righteousness." 
Jesus was as young as any of you, who " never did sin, 
neither was guile found in his mouth." He is the perfect 
example for all. Do you not wish, children, like Jesus, to 
go about doing good ? He loves Httle children, and will 
never refuse to hear their cries. 



'* Then lift your little hands in prayer ; 
The Saviour bids you come ; 
Safe in his bosom he will bear 
The lambs to his bright home." 



13 




See this little boy kneeling behind tbe tree! 

A GENTLZMA^' passuig at the time saw his httle hands 
clasped together, and his face upturned to heayen, evidently 
in earnest prayer, httle thinking that any one was near. 
Listeninof attentivelY. he heai'd the deai' httle feUow, in a 
soft voice, half choked with sighs, say : " Deai' Savioui', wash 
away her sins and save my dear mother.'"' 

As he rose from his knees the gentleman stepped foi'ward, 
and taking his hand, asked him where he hved. 

" I hve down there in that small house," he said. 

*' And where did you leam to pray, my deai' ?" 

" At the Sunday-school, where my teacher told me Jesus 
died for me, and that now He hves in heaven."' 

" And do you love the Lord who died for you ?' 

" Oh yes ! oh yes ! indeed I do, and I so wish my dear 
mother loved Him too, for she is veiw ill and may soon die. 
I tiy aU I can to make her. and I pray to God for her and 
father." 

** And do you thiok He hears youi' prayers, and wiU really 
save your father and mother ?" 

" Oh yes, for my teacher tells me that God loves to hear 

14 



THE child's PEAYEK. 15 

little children pray, and that whatever we ask in the name 
of Jesus, He is sure to give us." 

Having said this, the httle fellow added : " Now I must 
go ; good-bye," drew away his hand, and smiling sweetly, 
ran off to his home. 

About twelve months after this, the gentleman being 
again in the village, called to enquire after his httle friend, 
and learned from his father, that both he and his mother 
were dead, and that his wife had found, ere she died, the 
forgiveness of sins through the words of her httle boy. He 
said, too, that after his mother's death, he used to come to 
hiTn and tell him all he learned at the Sunday-school, and 
that thus, through his son's means, he had also beea led to 
beheve in Jesus. 

The poor father wept as he talked about his dear httle 
boy, and as he wiped away his tears, said : " I am now just 
waiting to join him and my dear wife above, there to praise 
the blessed God, that taught us both to love Him through 
the infant hps of our child." 

** Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected 
praise." — M<;iU. xxi. 16. 

** O'er the head of listening children 
Christ his sweetest blessings gave ; 
Little hands may aid his mission, 
A dying world to save." 




Tlie Praying Boy. 

He loves prayer — ^it's his soul's delight. He's at the 
mercy-seat 'ere the dawning hght. 

It was about five in the morning when he awoke, and 

began one of the hymns which he had learned from his 

mother's hps. 

** Awake, my heart, awake and sing 
The praise of God, who gives us all 
Food, sleep, and every precious thing ; 
To God, thy Friend, direct thy call." 



This he repeated aloud to himseK. The maid, who was 
about to milk the cows, had heard him ; and, touched by 
these lines, she entered the stable with the lantern in her 
hand, and wished the lad " good morning." 



16 




Liittle Mary and lier Father. 

*' How many deeds of kindness 
A little child may do, 
Although it has so little strength 
And little wisdom, too. 

**It 'syants a loving spirit, * 

Much more than strength to prove, 
How many things a child may do 
For others by its love." 

A LOVELY daughter, clothed with meek humility, abound- 
ing in all the Christian gTaces, pohshed " after the similitude 
of a palace." O what a blessing ! 

*'Lips that can praise and pray, 
And gentle words of kindness say. 
To please the King of heaven." 

Beautiful ! Anything more so this side of gloiy eternal ? 
"Whose adorning is not outward but inioard — ^the hea- 

17 



18 LITTLE MAEY AND HEB FATHER. 

venly/'— Tim. ii. 9 ; 1 Peter iii. 8. " The hidden man of 
the heart, in that which is not corruptible. Even the 
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight 
of God of great price." 

There are other ministers of love more conspicuous than 
she, but none in which a gentler, loveher spirit dwells, and 
none to which the heart's warm requitals more joyfully 
respond. She is the steady hght of her father's house. Her 
ideal is indissolubly connected with that of his fireside. 
She is his morning sunlight and evening star. The grace, 
vivacity, and tenderness of her sex, have their place in the 
mighty sway which she holds over his spirit. She is the 
elation of his heart, the ornament of his hospitality, and the 
gentle nurse in his sickness. 

Early piety is peculiarly pleasing in the sight of God. 
How lovely do the snow-drop, the primrose, and the daisy, 
appear in our sight, because they are the first flowers of the 
year ! And what is thus pleasing to us in the field of 
nature, is equally dehghtful to God in the garden of piety. 

Happy father ! happy mother ! This lovely daughter is 
yours — educated for the kingdom — an "ohve plant" around 
your table. " Many daughters have done virtuously, but 
she excels them all." 

" Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain ; but a woman 
that feareth the Lord, she shaU be praised." 

" Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom ; 
and with all thy getting, get understanding. Exalt her and 
she shall promote thee : she shaU bring thee to honor, when 
thou dost embrace her : she shall give to thine head an 
ornament of grace ; a crown of glory shall she dehver to 
thee."— Prov. iv. 7, 8, 9. 



,:!: ||:r l:f^iil^ Ml 







Busy Folks— Folks tliat are Busy. 

WORK ! WORK ! WORK ! 

*• IVhatsoeverihy handfindeth to do, do it ruith thy iJiightV Eccles. ix. lO. 
" God gives the bird its food, but does not throw it itiio its nest.^^ 

** Let us then be up and doing, 
With a heart for any fate ; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 
Learn to labor and to wait." 

A few lines to little Mary on business habits^ activity^ 
life^ soul^ and power in doing tJiis^ doing that^ run- 
ning here^ running there^ flying here^ flying there. 

Dear little niece, here yon see a whole family, np 
and doing! Doing what — folding their hands, taking 
the easy-chair ? or lying down crying : '' a little sleep, 
a little slumber — a little folding their hands to sleep ? " 
Not a syllable of it, every one is at her post — even 
grandma, with her " specs" on, is as busy as she can be. 



BUSY FOLKS — FOLKS THAT AEE BUSY. 

Paul told tlie Thessalonians, " If any would not 
work, neither should he eat." 2 Thess. iii. 10 ; also, 
Ephesians iv. 2S. 

" Labor with what zeal we wiU, 

Something yet remains undone ; 
Something, uncompleted still, 
Waits the rising of the sun." 

Look at the birds — any idlers here ? the fishes — any 
idlers there ? Lift your eyes to the starry heavens, the 
planetary systems, worlds on worlds flying through 
infinite space — any idlers or dozers up there ? Look 
at the skipping, dancing aninialculae, millions on 
millions, before the setting sun — any idlers here, 
dosers or sleepers ? Behold, nature dressed in living 
green — waving fields, beautiful landscapes, fruits and 
flowers — any idlers, dozers, or loungers — seen or heard 
of here ? 

Everything in nature and grace are active, full of 
life and motion, on the wing. The sun, the moon, the 
sparkling heavens, the birds, the floods, the rippling 
brooks and flowing founts ; the birds warble on every 
tree in ecstacy of joy ; the tiny flower, hidden from 
all eyes, sends forth its fragrance of full happiness ; 
the mountain-stream dashes along with a sparkle and 
murmur of pure delight. The object of their creation 
is accomplished, and their life gushes forth in har- 
monic work. O plant ! O stream ! worthy of admira- 
tion to the wretched idler ! 

Idleness is the bane, the moth, the gangrene, the 
curse of life. 



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SWOEDS AND riRES-PIEES AND SWORDS ; 

— OB — 
Gospel-fire — Fire of tlie Gospel. 



Gospel-fire should be first, midst, last, always in all our 
religious publications — ^books, tracts, and periodicals — fii^e 
on fire ! 

Parents and teachers need Gospel-fire, blazing out. Little 
folks loYe fire, and will have it. Ministers and editors need 
fire, sparkling, soul-kiiidluig, and should have it. What ! 
pray, preach, write, without this heavenly Gospel-fire ! 
No marvel we have chaff instead of wheat — cockle instead 
of barley — di'oss instead of gold — death instead of life, dam- 
nation instead of salvation. Live and breathe without this 
fire Pentecostal in families, schools, pulpits, chaii's, editorial, 
we die the death ! 

The "Waldenses had this fire, wrote it out, preached it out, 
sung it out, Hved it out. Where did they get it ? From 
Hcentious poets, novels and romances, fictitious tales? or 
from the Bible — holy inspiration ? Their souls were alive 
in God.* 

The holy prophets had fire — ^fire on fire — ^blazing out. 
Where did they get it ? From the Bible ? Tes ; from the 
Bible. John the Baptist hadji7% holy fire ; Paul had fire, 

* The more fire, the more love, the more resolutely we fight against sin. It is love 
kindles fire, and fire kindles love— fire on fire ! Without love no holy fire, no true 
Bible reform. The Lord give us more of it, a thousand fold ! 

" Oh ! for this love let rocks and hills 
Their lasting silence break ; 
And all harmonious human tongues 
The Saviour's praises speak." 

22 



SWORDS AND FIRES — PIRES AND SWORDS. 23 

Peter, James, and John, pentecostal, baptismal — ^fire on fire 
— blazing out. Where did they get it ? From the Bible ? 
Yes ; from the Bible. Luther had fire, Wesley had fire, 
Bunyan had fire — ^fire on fire — ^blazing out — Edwards had 
fire, "Whitefield had fire, the Tenants had fire, Payson had 
fire, James B. Taylor had fire — ^fire on fire — blazing out. 

Where did all these Gospel firebrands get their fire — 
fire on fire ? From the Bible ? Yes ; from the Bible. Oh 
for this fire — fire on fire ! " Man in the pulpit," the editorial 
chair, will you* have this fire — ^fire on fire — blazing out ? 
Go to the Bible, read the Bible, pray it out, search it out, 
live it out. 

** Hail ! sacred truth, whose piercing rays 

Dispel the shades of night ; 
Diffusing o'er a ruined world 

The healing beams of light." 

Fire and sword, sword and fire, go hand in hand, insepa- 
rably. No fire no sword, no sword no fire. The fire is 
dependent on the sword and the sword on the fire. " The 
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." — Eph. vi. 17. 
Oh for these heavenly fiires — blazing out — swords on swords ; 
swords that cut, fires that bum — Gospel fires ! 

*' Oh, for the living flame, 

From His own altar brought, 
To touch our lips, our souls inspire, 
And wing to Heaven our thought !" 

Friend, is your soul thus on fire ? kindled to a holy flame, 
while meditating and conversing about God, his Son, his 
Word, the home of the weary, the heavy laden, the rest of 
God's people ? Is the subject of rehgion your chief dehght, 
always, everywhere ? 




© GO »-» 

K O* >« 

J5 ^ *? 

O to f^ 




THE BIBLE IN HOUSEHOLD DUTY— THE 
FAMILY CIRCLE. 

" This Book of books I'd rather own 

Than all the gold or gems 
That e'er in monarchs' coffers shone — 

Than all their diadems : 
Nay, were the seas one chrysolite, 

The earth a golden ball, 
And diadems all the stars of night, 

This book were worth them all. 

** Yes, yes, this blessed book is worth 

All else to mortals given ; 
For what are all the joys of earth 

Compared to joys of heaven ? 
This is the guide our Father gave 

To lead to realms of day — 
A star whose lustre gilds the grave— 

' The light, the life, the way/ " 







,'a-%;^ ^i:^r.f^^>f 'm-wv 












THE BIBLE AND SABBATH SCHOOL 
TEACHEES. 

" Oil speed thee. Christian, on thy way. 
And to thy armor cling ; 
With girded loins the call obey 
That grace and mercy bring." 

OuE text-book, the basis of all our attempts to 
instruct the rising age committed to our care, should 
be the Bible. This book, of all others, is the most 
lastingly interesting to children. Were it not the 
depository of all-saving truth, still there would be 
no book to compare with it in power to arrest and 
retain the attention of the young. 

A very interesting and pious writer of the Sunday 
School Union remarks thus : 

" Every Sunday-school teacher, however un- 
learned in the knowledge of this world, should be 
well versed in Scripture truth, and be a careful 
student of his Bible. 'To the law and the testi- 
mony' should be his appeal for the truth of every 
sentiment.' " 




THE VEKSE-A-DAY SYSTEM. 
ONES AT IT, 



THE LITTLE 



** Give us this day our daily bread." 

" Bfiid of our souls ! whereon we feed ; 
True manna from on liigli !" 

Little folks, do you commit a verse from the 
Holy Book daily; repeat it likewise at the table 
spread with heaven's bounties ? How many verges 
will this be in one year ? Three hundred and sixty- 
five ? Yes, young friends, three hundred and sixty- 
five precious texts from the Sacred Volume, worth 
more to you, if hid in the heart, than so many gold 
eagles. Parents, what think you of this system ? 
The responsibility of its success rests on you. 

Says the Psalmist : " Thy word have I hid in my 
heart, that I sin not against thee." 



^;;#f\->^X_ 




Is tliis little Mary? 

If not, who else can it be ? And what is she presenting 
to dear mamma, smilingly ? Guess ? No, you needn't. 

** There's nothing lost. The tiniest flower 
That grows within the darkest vale, 
And, like the balm affection brings, 
'Twill scatter gladness round her head." 

This precious httle one is now in her fifth year, gentle as 
a lamb, sweet and smiHng. Her mother talks with her fre- 
quently about the Lord Jesus — ^what he has done and is 

28 



IS THIS LITTLE MARY? 29 

now doing to save everybody that will be saved. On these 
solemn occasions little Mary is wide awake — all eyes and 
ears. Every syllable is grasped eagerly. Her godly mother 
has cheering hopes of her being a Christian, for she is kind, 
loving, affectionate, obedient, often saying " Mamma, you're 
tired, I know you are — let me please baby awhile, and help 
you do this and that." She tries to make every one happy as 
she is, and always ready to do kind acts, and not teU of 
them ; never seeming proud of anything she does. These 
verses she has committed carefuiUy : 

** Not mighty deeds make up the sum 
Of happiness below, 
But little acts of kindness, 

Which any child may show.'* 

The tree is known by its fruit. A good Httle girl, out of 
the good treasure of her heart, bringeth forth good things. 
One day httle Mary came to her mother joyfully and said : 

" Mamma, if Jesus were here, might I rim right into his 
arms, and hug him, as I do you ?" 

" Why do you ask, dear T said her mother. 

" Because, mamma, I feel just as if I wanted to, he is 
so good." 

Then her mother rephed, "Yes, my dear, I thi TiTr you 
might ; for, when he was on earth, he took httle children ia 
his arms ; and they were just such children, too, as now 
hve in the world. Yes, you can go to him, and speak 
to him, whenever you wish, just as if you knew he was here 
by your side. Indeed, he is here ; only we cannot see 
him." 

Her mother is quite sure this loving, kind, obedient cliUd 
is one of those httle ones whom Jesus calls " His lambs." 



30 IS THIS LITTLE MAEY ? 

We see what Gospel training will do — ^what an unspeak- 
able blessing a pious, faithful mother is ! — the greatest of all 
earthly blessings. However unseen may be the results of 
her labors, those labors never are without blessed results * 
the case of every one of her children. 

The influence she exerts is the most excellent known on 
earth. Children brought up by a godly mother — who knows 
her duty and does it — who doubts their salvation? She 
makes the earhest, the deepest, and the most lasting impres- 
sions on their hearts. In their minds, rehgion is associated 
with all that is kind, winning, and pleasant in home-life. 
They grow up with reverence for the Bible, the house of 
God, and the ministers of Christ. They do not remember 
when first they heard the name of Jesus, or bowed their 
knees in prayer, or hsped the praises of God. They are 
instructed to hate and shun vice, and the seductions to it, 
and to admire and practice virtue. Having been trained up 
in the way they should go, when they become old they wiU 
not depart from it. 

How great is their responsibility ! God has committed 
to them the salvation of their own offspring. To secure the 
faithful discharge of the trust, he has planted in the mater- 
nal heart an affection which no toil, care, or sacrifice can 
exhaust. No mother who studies her responsibility or the 
interests of her children, can consent to be without the sus- 
taining and guiding influence of Divine grace. 

Fashion kills more women than toil and sorrow. Obedi- 
ence to fashion is a greater transgression of the law of 
woman's nature, a greater injury to her physical constitu- 
tion, than the hardships of poverty and neglect 




Here tliey are \%^itli Bible in. Iiand* 

Little Maey takes the lowest seat. All ears! Not a 
word of salvation slips out without her notice. This 
searching the Scriptiu^es is a daily business. Happy family ! 
a second Paradise ! 

Here Hes the secret of all successful family discipline of 
** rearing the tender thought." 

** Oh, give me the pious and happy home, 
Where the bond that unites is love, 
Where the will of the Holy One is done. 
And his blessing sought from above.*' 

^1 




Fiery Serpents. 

" And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit 
the people, and much people of Israel died. " — Xumbers xxi. 6. 

See how God deals with folks that murmnr. But there 
are other serpents more fearful and terrible than these fieiy 
flying sei-pents that bit to death so many of the children of 
Israel for their wicked murmuiings. TTe mean the seipents 
in the fonn of books and papei^, sent forth by some calling 
themselves Christians. Multitudes are dying this very day 
from the biting and stinging of these Tile rejDtiles. Tell 
these professed disciples of the Lord Jesus to stop sending 
these coiled sei3)ents all abroad, that poison the souls of so 
many httle folks, wiU they do it ? Tiy and see. 

But is there no cure for tbese serpent bites ? Nothing, 
save the blood of the Lamb. 

" As Moses lifted up the sei-pent in the wilderness, even 

so must the Son of man be lifted up : That whosoever 

beheveth in him should not peiish, but have eternal life." — 

John ui. 14, 15. 

32 



LYINa AND UASING LIAES. 



" A lie, how base ! how mean 1 offspring of selfishness — 
A lover of darkness, and hater of light." 

** A lying tongue is but for a moment." — Prov. xii. 19. 

, CoNVEESATioN between Mr. Standfast and Mr. Wliiffler. — 
(No. 1.) 

Mr. Standfast, " Walk in, sir, walk in — ^take a seat. Glad 
to meet you. You're the man I've long desired to see. 
Your name is Whiffler ?" 

W. " I'm not ashamed to own it, sir." 

S. " I've a word of exhortation for you." 

W, " Speak on, Mr. Standfast." 

S. " If report speaks truth, you're a Har, Mr. Whiffler, 
barefaced !" 

W, " What do you mean ? an insult ?" 

S. " I'm not double-tongued or double-faced hke you ; 
I mean what I say. You're a har ! you write hes, publish 
Hes, seU hes, read hes, and of course you teU hes ! You're 
a double, treble, quadruple har — a bundle of hes — a har 
from head to foot, from top to bottom ! Your whole con- 
tour, every look, every moving muscle, indicates falsehood 
or lying. Lying is youi^ trade !" 

W. " You call novels hes, do you ?" 

S. "Novels are hes — and hes are novels. 'A novel,' 
says Webster, ' is a fictitious tale.' And fiction is falsehood 
— a he ! Therefore, Mr. Whiffler, take pen in hand, and 
write opposite yom- name in capitals, ' LIAR !' Every one 
is a har that wiites hes, sehs hes, or puffs hes, whether in 

34 



LYING AND MAKING LIARS. 35 

the church or out of it — in the pulpit or out of it — ^in the 
editorial chair or out of it ! Now, Mr. Whiffler, you see 
clearly without spectacles to what class you belong, the 
truthful or the lying — ^whether you are on the Lord's side 
or the devil's ? 

" Do you love truth, talk it, write it, preach it, send it 
forth to bless the world, or do you take sides with the father 
of hars — write hes, preach hes, pubHsh Hes, send them forth 
to curse the world ? To one of these classes you surely 
belong. ' No man can serve two masters.' ' He that is not 
with me is against me ; and he that gathereth not with me 
scattereth abroad.' — Math. xii. 30. Some parents put Hes 
in the hands of thek children ; they teU us their sons and 
daughters have no taste or rehsh for truth, historical, 
scientific, the Bible, the sohd, the virtuous and the pure, 
that edifies, enlightens the mind and purifies the heart ; so, 
forsooth, they place a He in their hands — a book or periodi- 
cal, made up more or less of Hes, from the father of Hars. 
And thus children, being fed or nourished on Hes, mentally 
become Hars very early — grow up to manhood on Hes, 
become rooted and grounded in Hes ! When children have 
once acquired a habit of lying or teUing Hes, how is this 
habit to be eradicated? Nothing is so difficult to be 
removed from a child as lying or teUing Hes. ' Can the 
Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ?' Noth- 
ing but grace, superabounding, Almighty, will cure man, 
woman or child of lying or telHng Hes when once the habit 
is formed. 

" Lying in famiHes and communities increases, just in pro- 
portion as you, Mr. WhifiSier, and other Hars, continue to 
write, puff and seU Hes — novels, romances, fictitious tales I 
What a curse — ivhat a cui-se ! 



36 LYING AND MAKING LIARS. 

" Lies beget lies. One liar makes other liars — ^not a few. 
The man that writes Hes, preaches Hes, pubHshes lies, puffs 
lies — sells and reads hes. What next ? Steal, rob, cut your 
throat ? Look out ! The man that tells hes — ^makes a busi- 
ness of it, as you do — is he any too good to steal or rob ?'* 

Merchants, have you hars in your employ ! noyel-reading 
clerks ? Beware ! — ^look well to your safes. 

Young men that have their minds vitiated, and their 
moral sensibilities perverted by reading hes, will not endea- 
vor to procure wealth in the ordinary way, by labor and 
patience ; this is too slow a process to satisfy the fevered 
excited mind. Fortune must be made at once. It drives 
young men to the gambling-table, the theatre, the intoxi- 
cating bowl, and to the house of ill-fame. Novels are hars ! 
Lying and thieving go hand in hand. And what sin 
meaner, more despicable, hateful, devihsh, than the one now 
under consideration ? 

Bamimi, P. T., with all his humbuggery, witchcraft, and 
devilisms, whom you commend to the pubhc, bid " God 
speed," is not to be compared for mischief, ruin, desolation 
and damnation, with what Satan is doing through the 
medium of a corrupt press. R^hgious novels, " coiled 
serpents," mixed pubhcations, partly good, partly evil, 
sugared pills — the devil's baits — ^which you, Mr. Whiffler, 
are endorsing, clasping to your bosom. These serpents bite 
you, sting you to death, by and by ! " With what measure 
ye meet it shall be measured to you again." 

W. " Are you not aware, Mr. Standfast, that the best 
hterature in the market, the most exquisitely fascinating 
and sparkling, takes the form of stories, tales or novels ? 
By decrying these you defeat the very thing you are aim- 
ing at." 



LYING AND MAKING LIAES. 37 

S. "That is, there are not specimens of fine wiiting, 
beautiful, majestic, heavenly, extant, without resorting to 
story-telling, hars, and writers of hes ! This smells pretty 
strong of brimstone ! These tales or rehgious novels, eulo- 
gized by you and sent forth to curse the world, may not all 
of them contain anything coarse, gross or vulgar ; far better 
if they did. Evil that comes in the form of grossness or 
vulgarity, is not so dangerous as that which comes veiled in 
gracefulness and exquisite sentiment. Subjects which are 
better not touched upon at all, are discussed, examined, and 
exhibited in all the most seductive forms of imagery. 
Parents would be shocked to see a son in a fit of intoxica- 
tion ; and yet, I solenmly aver, it would be better to see a 
son reel through the streets, in a fit of drunkenness, thaa to 
see the dehcacy of a lovely daughter's mind injured, and her 
imagination inflamed with false fire ! Twenty-four hours 
will terminate the evil in the one case, but twenty-four years 
will not exhaust the effects of the other. You must seek the 
consequences at the end of very many years. 'Behold, 
how great a matter a httle fire kindleth.' ' Keep thy heart 
with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.' — 
Frov. iv. 23. 

" The first step in a downward course should be shunned 
as a deadly serpent ! None become abandoned at once : we 
cannot have too clear an idea of the danger of the ' first 
steps' in any sinful career. 

" Truths of the most important character, of life, science, 
art, geography, history, ethics, and rehgion, can be set forth 
in a style that will interest while it instructs, and will be 
even more fascinating to young minds than the sensational 
stories and sugar-coated nonsense now placed in theii' hands 
by you and others. 



38 LYING AND MAKING LIAKS. 

" Children should be encouraged to read works written 
for their seniors. Youths of ten or twelve years old would 
get far more help and intellectual health and vigor from 
reading histories, biographies, books of travel, art, and even 
of sciences, than almost any juvenile works. But the Bible 
first, midst, last, always. 

" Yet after all, you tell me and the pubhc brazen facedly 
that we are dependent on novel-scribblers — ^writers of Hes — 
for the best and finest specimens of human composition ! 
Shameful ! This assertion of yours is a hbel ! What softer 
name give it ? The truth is well known, that the style of 
writing of the very best of these novehsts, is generally below 
mediocrity — ^weak, puerile, silly, uncouth, unchaste, and very 
often positively gross, vulgar. This you see in most of the 
stories or tales inserted in reUgious weeMies and monthlies. 
How otherwise, penned as they are under the influence 
of the satanics ?" 

W. " Your assei-tions are broad and sweeping. "Will you 
not, do you not admit of exceptions, Mr. Standfast ?" 

S. " Satan does, in very deed, sometimes help his faithful 
servants marvelously in composing, especially those given 
exclusively to his service." 

** A novel was a book, 
Three volum'd, and once read ; and oft crammed ! 
Of poisonous error, blackening every page ; 
And oftener still, of trifling, second-hand, 
Remarkable and old, diseased and putrid thought, 
And miserable incident, at war 
With nature, with itself and truth at war ; 
Yet charming still the greedy reader on. 
Till done — he tried to recollect his thought. 
And nothing found but dreaming emptiness." 



Tliis is Naaman, tlie I^eper* 

But wlio is Naaman, and what was he? Turn to 
2d Kings, chap. 5, and the secret is disclosed Ehsha said 
to Naaman, " Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy 
flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." 
But who told Naaman that Elisha could cure sick folks ? 
A httle captive gui ! Hark ! " And she said unto her mis- 
tiness. Would God my lord were with the Prophet that 
is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy." — 
2 Kings v. 3. 

You see what Httie hearts of love can do, the Lord help- 
ing — not bigger than Httle Mars^ — ^by dropping kind words. 
Every httle boy and girl bom fi'om above, full of faith and 
the Holy Spuit, as all httie folks should be, will drop kind 
words — they can't help it I And what more beautiful, 
praiseworthy ? 

'* Little children, Jesus loves you, 

He invites you to his arms ; 

To his breast he waits to fold yon, 

There to shield you from alarms.'* 

40 




Abraliani and Isaac. 

Who are tliese waiving up hill briskly ? Abraham and 
Isaac ! Turn to Gen. 22, and you will see how it is — ^who 
it is. They are on the way to Mount Moriah. Isaac is to 
be offered for a burnt saciifice. God told Abraham to do 
this, and that was sufficient. "Whatever God told him to 
do, whether pleasant or unpleasant, for life or for death — 
what now, stop ? parley, hesitate, question proprieties ? 
Not a hreath of it ; the very instant duty was plain — 
staring him full in the face — ^he was off in the twinkling of 
an eye. His invariable motto was : " Speak, Lord, for thy 
servant heareth." Fear consequences? Indeed what had 
Abraham to think, say or do about consequences? He 
knew full weU God takes care of consequences. Duty is 
ours, consequences or results God's. " Go fonvard." Why 
was this blessed patriarch called the father of the faithful ? 

1. Because he was strong in faith, giving glory to God. 
His faith was not a dead faith, without works. It was faith 
and do, do and faith, but faith first — all the time — and works 
followed instantly, after faith ! " Faith wi'ought with his 
works, and by works was faith made perfect. And the 
Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, 

41 



42 ABRAHA3I AND ISAAC. 

and it was imputed unto him for righteousness : and he 
was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by 
works a man is justified, and not by faith only. But wilt 
thou know, O vabi man, that faith without works is dead ?" — 
James xx. 23. 

2. Abraham was called the father of the faithful, because 
of his faithfulness in household duty. Here, eyerything 
was clock work. No family in the whole region was more 
orderly or better disciplined. "I know him," saith the 
Lord, " that he will command his children, and his house- 
hold after him, and they shaU keep the way of the Lord, to 
do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon 
Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." — Gen. xvii. 19. 
You see he resorted both to persuasive and coersive mea- 
sures. "When mildness failed, gentleness, sweet as heaven — 
what then ? let things shde ? Satan rule the day ? yield to 
false tenderness, sickly charity, as most parents do ? Spare 
the rod, spoil the child ! Had Abraham thus healed shghtly, 
daubed with untempered mortar, "conferred with flesh 
and blood ;" or, hke Eli, suffered the inmates of his house 
to do vile things, and restrained them not — would he have 
been highly honored as he was ? 

" Them that honor me, I wiU honor ; and they that des- 
pise me shall be hghtly esteemed." 1 Saml. ii. 30. 

What sin greater, what more God-dishonoring, than the 
neglect to train our children in the " way they should go," 
or to " bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 

Lord?" 

** Oh, it is a sadd'ning sight, 

When children go astray, 
Forsaking what is good and right, 
To walk in Satan's way." 



LTi::s Ar:D masii:g^ lia^s 



Conversation between Mr. Sta2s-dfast and Mr. TThiffleb. 

(No. 2.) 

**TheT flattered him with their mouth, and they lied mito him 

\nth their tongues. " — Fsalnis Ixxviii. 36. 

IT! ''•' What shall we do, then, Mi\ Standiast, if we tate 
away the stoiy ? The ajDpetite is not satistied. The mind is 
left empty, swept, and gaiTiished, and for one stoiy cast out 
by pai'ental authority, seven others worse than the first will 
creep in. We can only defeat bad stories by good ones." 

S. " That is, don't feed children on bad hes but on good 
lies — not on black hes but white hes ! See the cloven foot, 
do you, ]\Ii\ TDiiltier ? Could a cunning, crafty, devilish 
devil do up anything better to his liking to iTiin the souls 
of httle folks ? This smells sd'onger of brimstone than any- 
thing yet ! What will not the old serpent do next ? 

'*' Here's the snake in the gi^ass, the ' sei-pent coiled.' 
Because childi'en iu then- natiu-^al state, at enmity against 
God, ill the gah of bitterness and bonds of iniquity, crave 
hes, the food of Satan, you fill them to the full of this food, 
gi^atify then- depraved appetites to surfeiting. It's natuiul 
for the carnal heart to ci'uve hes, while the heart is in the 
Ix)6session of the father of hes. Why not feed the natui^al 
or carnal heart of yoiu' httle ones on other things besides 
novels of a carnal natui'e, eai-thly, sensual, devihsh "? ^Mien 
the mind is empty, swept and gamished, what do you do ? 
fill it with truth, the food of heaven, the bread of eternal 
hfe, as God requires ? Nay, *' but with hes, the food of 



LYING AND MAKING LIAES. 45 

Satan, and these lies enter in and dweU there, and the last 
state of your children is worse than the first.' (See Math. 
siL 34, 44, 45.) Feed your offspriag on good hes, and how 
long ere the carnal appetite hankers after the bad ones? 
Feed them on white Hes, and how long ere they crave the 
black ones? Novels are hes, Webster says so, * fictitious 
tales,' ' counterfeits,' ^ false,' ' not genuine.' 

"You know, or ought to know, Mr. "Whiffler, that the 
thirst for novel-reading is cultivated by novel-readiag ; or 
that readiag fiction, with a httle sprinkling of rehgion, pre- 
pares children to love to read fiction, though it may have a 
sprinkling of irrehgion. 

" There is that in the character of fictitious writings, pro- 
perly called novels, whether the subject be secular or 
rehgious, which forms a taste different from historical, 
didactic, or any of the other classes of writing, and this taste 
is as readily formed by holding the child upon rehgious 
novels in his younger years, as if he were supphed with 
secular novels. 

" Thus the child is piously trained to seek his gratifica- 
tions of mind amid elements of grossest corruption. K the 
enemy of aU good should set himself to devise a scheme to 
take children out of rehgious families, and from them to 
rear a supply of victims of this form of ruin, he could, with 
aU his cunning, hardly contrive a better way to avoid giving 
alarm and to secure the result. * Stolen waters are sweet, 
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not 
the dead are there ; and that her guests are in the depths 
of heU.'— Prou ix. 17, 18. 

"In the Sabbath-school hbrary, and in the books pur- 
chased for children, we furnish them with the means of cul- 
tivating a taste for novel-reading, and so prepare them 



46 LYING AND MAKING LIARS. 

greedily to devour whatever fictitious trash may fall in their 
way, and then waste our breath in deploiing their exposure 
to a corrupt hterature. 

" Are your children hars, fond of reading lies, fictitious 
writings, silly tales or stories — ' The Little Corporal,' * Our 
Young Folks,' and the like ? Not if you have obeyed God 
in training them ' in the way they should go/ Whenever 
and wherever you see any one, old or young, eager after 
sickly, simpering, tickle, fancy pubHcations, soulless and 
Christless as the barren fig tree, take it for granted there 
has been sad omission in family duty. Grace in the soul, 
heaven-born, is the safeguard, the cureall ! Plant grace, 
then, deep down — ^water it with prayer constantly, as the 
dew of heaven, and Satan is cast out, finds no lodgment, no 
disposition or rehsh remaining for lying, reading hes, or 
telling Hes. 

* 'Tis truth that binds, and truth makes free, 
Aud sets the soul at Hberty 

From sin and Satan's heavy chain, 
And then within the heart doth reign. 

* They have a freedom then, indeed, 
That doth all freedom else exceed.' 

" The truth of God— 

* Where'er it enters in, 

Is sharper than a two-edged sword, 
To slay the man of sin.' 

' Thy word have I hid in my heart,' says the Psalmist, ' that 
I might not siq against thee.' 

" When once the truths of the Bible have taken firm root 
in the heart, and become more precious than gold, sweeter 
also than honey and the honey-comb, these sugar-coated 



LYING AND MAKING LIAES. 47 

poisons, snakes in the grass, satanic transformations —the 
popular periodicals of the day, the fashion-plate magazines 
and comicals, the multitudin ous mixed-up thing of the bitter 
and the sweet, God and Mammon, Christ and Behal appear 
disgusting and heart-sickening. ' If any man be in Christ, 
he is a new creature ; old things are passed away : behold 
aU things are become new.' — 2 Cor. v. 17. What avails a 
rehgion that does not cast out Satan and let in Christ? 
To bring up children in the nuiiure and admonition of the 
Lord, is our blessed priyilege. Besides, God commands it — 
Eph. vi. 4. See also Deut. vi. 6-9, Prov. xxii. 6. 

" What a sad, lamentable, soul-ruinous error do parents 
and teachers, having the charge of children and youth, faU 
into, when, to make home attractive, happy and joyful, they 
introduce trifling amusements — ^nonsensical, doU-baby pub- 
lications, heart-sickening ! What ! is there not truth enough 
in all the world, aside from holy revelation, on which to 
nomifcjh your httle ones, mentally and spiritually, without 
feeding them on Hes, the food of Satan ? 

* Fill first the bushel with the wheat, 
With wisdom — food for souls to eat ; 
Then chaff, the fiction of the day, 
Will find no place, and blow away.' 

"Ton see now what you are doing, Mr. Whiffler? 
Instead of obeying God in family discipHne, taking your 
little ones to Christ forthwith, placing them in the arms of 
redeeming, sanctifying mercy, you take an opposite com^se, 
and place them directly on the lap of Satan, dandle them on 
his knees ! Wicked man I" 




It's Spring-time liere, bright and smiling. 

Here's a farmer resting in the shade. Country folks are 

the happiest of the happy, or should be. Spring prefigures 

childhood, and youth betokens mercy, love and salvation. 

Childhood is, indeed, the spring-time of the year, the time 

for the singing of birds, the lambs to skip, the mountains 

and the hills to break forth in joyful praise, and the trees of 

the forest to clap their hands. " Out of the mouths of babes 

and sucklings thou hast ordained strength." 

48 







GATHERING NUTS. 



See that little girl holding her hat for the nuts as her 
brother gathers them ? Is she not beautiful ? Does not 
her whole countenance indicate modesty and purity. 




GATHERING FLOWERS 



" sweet soul'd flowers with robes so bright, 

Fair guests of Eden's birth, 
In cheerful characters of light, 
"What lines of love divine ye write, 

Upon the troubled earth." 

Young friends, whenever yon want fruits or flowers^ 
1)6 sure to ask permission of the owner. Never entei 



GATHEKING FLOWEKSe 

an orchard or flower garden unless you are first in- 
vited to do so. 

These sprightly little folks represented in the en- 
graving are innocent, harmless as doves — their every 
look indicates this. 

Yet there are some boys and girls, we regret to say, 
who take great liberties, do things they ought not. 
Others, who have no fear of God before their eyes, go 
so far as to pluck fruits and flowers secretly, and do other 
very wicked things. Stealing is stealing, theft is theft, 
robbery is robbery, in little things and great things, 
A boy or girl who will steal an apple, a pear, or bou- 
quet, will, doubtless, by-and-by, steal other things and 
greater things. Beware, little folks and great folks. 
" Thou shalt not steal," saith the holy one. " Be sure 
your sin will find you out." 

" On the goods that are not thine, 
Do not dare to lay thy finger: 
On thy neighbor's better things 
Let no wistful glances linger. 

" Pilfer not the smallest thing, 

Touch it not, howe'er thou need it ; 
Though the owner have enough, 

Though he know it not nor heed it." 



It is with health as with property ; we rarely value 
it or know how best to use or to take care of it till it 
is gone. 







^ "v^i-r 



THE GARDENERS RESTING IN THE SHADK 

"Out-door emplojTneiit gives pleasure and gain, 
And makes us our troubles forget ; 
For those who work hard have no time to complain, 
And it's better to labor than fret." 




BIRDY, BIRDY, PRETTY BIRD Y— AIN'T IT BEAUTIFUIi I 

" Little birds sleep sweetly 
In their soft round nests, 
Crouching in the cover 
Of their mother's breast.'* 

Don't hurt the sweet, beautiful songsters, little folks, 
not a hair of their heads, nor their nests or little ones ; it 
would be cruelly wicked to do so. Hark ! how sweetly 
they sing ! Sing praises ? Yes, they do. Turn to the 
one hundred and forty-eighth Psalm and see how every- 
thing above and everything below, animate and inanimate, 
praise the Lord, and the birds among the rest. 

Learn a lesson from these merry, melodious songsters ? 
Certainly we can. 



'' We learn a lesson from the birds 
Of life from day to day — 
The things we set our hearts upon, 
Oft quickly pass away 1" 




DON'T SHOOT THE BIRDS. 

** Don't shoot the birds, the warbling birds, 

That cheer you with their song, 
That fill the air witli melodies, 

A bright and happy throng ; 
That carol forth their native lays 

From shrub and lofty limb, 
And gaily sing their tuneful strains 

From morn till evening dim. 
Don't shoot the birds, the joyous birds, 

That charm the traveler's way." 



How thankful should we be that God has given ng 
the dear birds to be our fellow-laborers and comforters, 
and the laborer is surely worthy of his hire. Why 
grudge him his pay ? Why cheat him of his spring 
and summer work ? Soon we shall see them very 
busy. Many have already begun. 



LYINQ AND MAKlNa LIARS, 



Conversation between Mr. Standfast and Mr. Whifflek. 

(No. 3.) 

**Iwill be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets." — 
1 Kings xxii. 22. 

S. "These arguments you offer for publishing — white 
lies to keep out the black ones — or to serve the devil a little 
to keep from serving him a great deal — are borrowed from 
that popularity seeking, novel sheet, ' The Hearth and 
Home !' " 

W. " It's puffed and puffed by rehgious editors through- 
out the land, say what you will, Mr. Standfast." 

S, " Of course. The time was when the earth helped 
the woman ; but the tables are turned ; now the woman 
helps the earth." — Eev. xii. 17. 

W. " You place in the same category these puffers of hes, 
as you call them, with the writers of these hes — is this your 

logic r 

S, " The partaker is as bad as the thief. One writes 
lies for money, the other puffs hes for money." 

TF. " Money, you say, is the ultimatum ?" 

S, "Whoever penned a novel, romance, or silly tale, 
rehgious or otherwise, save on the idea of gain — filthy lucre, 
Achan's 'accursed thing* — Balaam's 'accursed thing' — 
Simon, the Sorcerer's ' accursed thmg !' Would Beecher 
have stuck his nose in the dirt, hghted and snuffed Satan's 
candle, save for the $30,000 — Achan's gold-wedge, and the 
cash incomes ever since from the same source and fi'om tlie 

55 



66 LYING AND MAKING UAES. 

same motives ? * There is an accursed thing in the midst 
of thee, Israel : thou canst not stand before thine enemies, 
imtil ye take away the accursed thing from among you.' — 
Josh. vii. 13." 

W. " Tou hnk Beecher with the whole batch of religious 
novel-writers — the white-lying folks ?" 

S, " And you among the rest, IVIr. Whiffler, save you 
stop lying and whiffling !" 

W, " Did not our Saviour resort to fiction in illustrating 
truths ? the good John Bunyan also, and many others ?" 

S, " The cloven foot sticking out again — another apology 
for clasping the old serpent to your bosom for the accursed 
lust of ' ill-gotten gain.' It's devilish, as devilish can be ! 
Dr. W. H. Vandoren, a good Presbyterian brother in the 
ministry, calls this blasphemy ! Hear him : — ' We need 
not add,' says he, 'that when persons attempt to sustain 
religious novels by the quoting of Parables and Pilgrim's 
Progress, it seems to us simple blasphemy. Who ever was 
led by Pilgrim's Progress to dramatize it for the stage like 
Norwood or Uncle Tom's Cabin ? It is a fact that religious 
novels excite a taste for the theatre, and soon the gate is 
opened wide which leads to ruin here, and ruin eternal !' 
Because the godly Bunyan and other devoted servants of 
Christ wrote aUegoricaUy the most blessed, spiritual, hea- 
venly things, for the soul's salvation — and because our 
blessed Lord and Saviour illustrated, by parables, truths 
most glowing, sacred, solemn, and heavenly — you and other 
writers and puffers of reUgious lies excuse yourselves for 
talking the very Satan himself into your laps, and dandling 
him upon your knees ! 

* Torture the pages of the hallowed Bible 
To sanction crime, and robbery, and blood.' 



LYING AND MAKING LIARS. 57 

" 'The N. Y. Daily Witness' makes this silly apology for 
filling up a large portion of his sheet with tales, and stories 
insipid, frothy, puerile, heart-sickening! Thus occupying 
space with things hght, trifling and profitless, that should 
be filled with golden gems — * apples of gold ' — ^things beau- 
tiful, heavenly, divine! Shameful! The editor teUs us 

* that nothing offensive to purity and rehgion shall find a 
place in his paper.' False! diametrically. Nearly one- 
fourth of his regular issues had better be consigned to the 
flames ! Very many of the Lord's people would thank hiTYi 
heartily for so doing. A beloved, intelligent, influential, 
godly woman said to us over and over, week in, week out : 

* Do, for heaven's sake, write to the editor of the " N. Y. 
Daily Witness," to stop his siQy tales, and fill the space 
thereof with something good, useful, edifying, sohd and 
pure, that will minister grace, Hfe, salvation! Say to 
him : " We are heart-sick of this rehgious nonsense. If 
the Lord be God, serve him ; if Baal or the devil, take 
him.'" 

" ' The Christian World,' pubhshed at No. 47 Bible House, 
I suppose makes the same plea for setting the whole com- 
munity in a blaze, pergatorial ! This Monthly, that should 
be pure as heaven can make it, occupies frequently some two 
or three pages in puffing, not only white Hes, but of what 
the godly bishop, Littlejohn, of the Episcopalian order, 
says : * The writers and publishers of such stuff are the 
enemies of pubhc peace and morals, and the sacred ties of 
society and the purity of home plead against them^' 

" Who first originated falsehood or fiction ? And what 
the cost to our first parents for beheving a He from the 
father of hes ? The devU deceived our mother Eve. How ? 
By a tale, a story, a He — ^just what you are doing ! You're 



58 LYING AND MAKING LURS. 

doing the deviPs work ! You're a liar, and a Kar maker ! 
And how many, think you, of these Hars made by you will 
accompany you down to the lowest depths of hell ? "Why 
not as soon manufacture and sell grog and tobacco ? Which 
do you suppose are taking more souls to the regions of 
death and damnation, intoxicating drink, and the vile, 
poisonous * Indian weed,' or novels, romances, and fictitious 
tales?* 

" Now to calm or hush a guilty, disturbed conscience, you 
have the impudent assurance to tell me that Bunyan, that 
holy man of God, bowed the knee to this Baal ! Shameful ! 
blasphemy ! WTien and where did Bunyan's allegory, or 
the allegorical writings of any holy man of God, ever make 
fools, simpletons and dunces — ^hars and thieves — of little 
folks and great folks ? WTien did they ever lead to frivohty, 
lightness of speech, senseless gabble, fooHsh talking and 
jesting — ^the fool's laughter, ' hke the crackling of thorns 
under a pot,' as we see and hear in most novel writers, 
puffers and readers, in the pulpit and out of it ? 

"When did the writings of Bunyan, and other holy 
writers allegorical, ever lead to pride, worldly conformity 
in dress, folly-fashion, the pleasures of sense, camahty, 
games of chance, biQiards, the card-table, the theatre, the 
opera, to elopements, abductions, seduction, and 'Free- 



* It is still a question unsolved which of the two will land more souls in perdition 
rum and tobacco, or novels and romances, written and sent forth by persons calling 
themselves disciples of the Lord Jesus ! 

Mrs. Swisshelm, in her Saturday Visitor^ declared unhesitatingly that the whole 
batch of fashion-plate Magazines, and other fictitious writings, spread more domestic 
misery and destruction over the human race than all the rum-sellers in the nation. 
**Yes," says she, "they instigate more murders than the tyranical bloody Nero 1" 
The beloved Junson, and sister Vinton, Missionaries to Burmah, expressed similar sen- 
timents, when on a visit to America. 



LYING AND MAKING LIARS. 59 

loveism ?' And last of all, the house of her wiiose steps 
take hold on heU ?" 

We see from the foregoing whence comes lies and lying, 
who are liars. Satan, as we have seen, is the author and 
instigator of all lying or falsehood, as he was a har from the 
beginning, and the father of liars. 

We see who are his most active helpers, chief agents 
indefatigable in the business of lying and making Hars. 
These emissaries of his are doing what their " Father " — 
the " Father *' of all hars — cannot do, if devihsh enough to 
do it. Satan pen Hes, set type for lies, pubhsh and puff 
lies, mail and send them forth to curse the rising age — 
little folks and big ! When ? where ? Not he. Who then 
is wicked enough to do this wicked thing if not Satan? 
Guess, friends. We speak advisedly what we know, see, 
and hear. 

We see why children of rehgious parents grow up uncon- 
verted, hardened in sin, wreckless, disobedient, vagabonds ! 
a curse to themselves, to their parents — to the world ! How 
otherwise, if nourished up on hes? Dr. Arnold says: — 
" Childishness in boys even of good abihty, seems to be a 
growing fault, and I do not know what to ascribe it to, 
except to the great number of exciting books of amusement. 
The habit is to the mind what indulgence in intoxicating 
drink is to the body. In both cases there is a constant 
craving for excitement, and for an excitement which unfits 
the faculties and draws away the affections from duty, from 
heaven and from God." 

Address.... "THE SWORD THAT CUTS," 

303 W^est Twcntictli St., New York. 




Tlie Baby Jesus, IVo. 1 



" Jesus ! the name to sinners dear, 
The name to sinners given ; 
It scatters all our guilty fear, 
And turns our hell to heaven.'* 

A WORD to little Mary about this dear child, born of 
the Yirgin Mary, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate 
from sin and sinners even while a babe. Was there 
ever such a child, so sweet, so innocent, so beautiful, 
so heavenly ? Never ; and there never will be. 

When a little baby he was worshiped by men and 
angels. Turn, if you please, dear little niece, to the 
second chapter of Matthew, and you will see how the 
wise men from the east followed the star of Bethlehem 
till it came and stood over where the young child was. 
And where, think you, this precious little one from 
heaven was, when born? In a manger? Yes, he, 
who made all worlds, took his first lodgings in a 
manger. 



The Wheat not Chaff— Truth not Fiction— Gold not Dross : 

OR, 

EducaJtimi in Families and Schools on Bible Truths, and not 
on Fiction or Novels. 



*♦ The Bible ! the Bible ! blest volume of truth, 
How sweetly it smiles on the season of youth ! 
It bids us seek early the pearl of great price. 
Ere the heart is enslaved in the bondage of vice." 

1. Because it is God's book — ^the Book of Books — ^the 
book above all books, the best of all books. 

** The Bible ! in this book alone, 
We find God's holy will made known ; 
And here his love to man is shown." 

2. Because it is a fountaia of purity, and all the streams 
issuing from this pure fountain must be pure. " The words 
of the Lord are pure words : as silver tried in. the furnace 
of earth, purified seven times." — Psa. xii. 6. Every thing 
from a pure and holy God must be pure and holy. 

*' Men's books with heaps of chaff are stored ; 
God's book doth golden grains afford. 
Then leave the chaff, and spend thy pains 
In gathering up the golden grains." 

3. The word of God is life, it is spirit, it is power ; it 
convicts, converts, sanctifies, purifies — ^makes meet for hea* 
ven, for glory eternal. 

4. The Bible should be made the text-book in aU families 
and schools, because God has left us recorded examples of 

61 



62 WHEAT NOT CHAFF — TRUTH NOT FICTION. 

the saving power of liis word, in saving the rising age, even 
from infancy. 

5. Another reason for taking the Bible for the text-book 
in the impartation of Hght and Hfe to children and youth — 
it is a most beautiful, subhme, and perfect specimen of com- 
position. 

6. Again, the Bible should be the text-book or foundation 
of all intellectual and rehgious training, for wherever its 
blessed doctrines and precepts are embraced, treasured in 
the heart, and carried out practically in every-day life, there 
true grace prevails, true wisdom shines, and what things 
soever are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good 
report. 

7. The Bible should be made the text-book in our schools 
and famihes from the fact, the Bible, just now, is assailed 
by a most remarkable multiphcity and diversity of enemies. 

8. AgaiQ, the Bible should be the first, midst, last, 
always, in educating the risiag age ; for God HimseK indi- 
cates the fact, gives line upon Hne, precept upon precept, 
here a Httle and there a httle, from Genesis to Eevelation. 

9. Finally, the Bible should be the text-book, the first 
thing, and the last thing, in the cultivation of the youthful 
mind and heart, for by it we are to be judged at the final 
day. " He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, 
hath one that judgeth him : the word that I have spoken, 
the same shall judge him in the last day." — John xii. 48. 

The Bible is, beyond all controversy, the best book of 
education in the world. It is the best book for the forma- 
tion of children's minds ; the best book for the acquisition 
and preservation of a pure idiomatic style in their native 
language ; the best book to promote and secure the pur- 
poses of family government ; the best book to make our 



WHEAT NOT CHAFF — TEXJTH NOT FICTION. 63 

cliildreii enlightened and good citizens of the KepubKc ; the 
best book, in fine, to preserve them from all eyil, and train 
them up in all good. 

Our education needs a rehgious element ; for it is not 
education alone that will save us ; it will merely train a 
skilful race of gladiators for the arena of pohtical strife. 
The only source of that element of safety is the word of God. 
And if you take the word of God from your common and 
pubKc schools, you are teaching infidehty and practical 
atheism to the whole nation. You are filling the mind with 
elements that, without the safeguard of divine truth, are 
sure to become fiery, bitter, and poisonous. 

In its general influence over the minds of our children 
and over the whole business of education, the Bible in our 
families and schools is invaluable. 

** The Bible ! the Bible ! we hail it with joy, 
Its truths and its glories our tongues shall employ : 
We'll sing of its triumphs, we'll tell of its worth, 
And send its glad tidings afar o'er the earth." 



This is the word of everlasting life ; this is the fountain 
from whence all thy comforts flow ; this is the bread of hfe ; 
this is the fortress of thy faith, the sword of the Spiiit, thy 
buckler and defence. 

Oh, meditate well herein ; search, read, hear, mark, leani ; 
so shalt thou find it heavenly manna to the soul. 

This is the word of God ; canst thou enough reverence 
it ? canst thou enough esteem and dehght in it ? 

Every hne droppeth peace as the honey-comb ; every 
page aboundeth with gladness and with good tidings, as the 
ocean is filled with water. 




liittle Mary reading -vritli Motlier. 



What book is this sweet little girl reading — a novel or 
story book? No. "The Bible?" Yes. She loves the 
Bible — ^it's her soul's dehght ! She can say, " O how I love 
thy law ! it is my meditation all the day. . . How sweet 
are thy words to my taste ! Yea, sweeter than honey to my 
mouth !" — ^Psa. cxix. 103. She feasts daily on this bread 
of heaven — angels' food ! It's the first thing in the morn- 
ing and the last in the evening. Eetire to rest or wake in 
the morning without a lesson from this blessed Book of 
books ? Sooner dispense with the food that nourishes her 
physical system — sooner lay aside her breakfast, dinner and 
supper ! The Bible is first m the momiag, the last in the 
evening. The first of all and the last of all is soul-food, 
spiritual, heavenly. 

** How pure the sacred word of truth, 
The blessed book to guide our youth, 
Given by our Father and our God, 
To guide to heaven through Jesus' blood !" 

This lovely httle Mary, you see in the picture, pouring 

64 



LITTLE MAEY READING WITH MOTHEK. 65 

over the Word of life, was taught from early childhood to 
love and fear God from the sacred Scriptures, and like Httle 
Timothy, she became wise unto salvation when a tiny one ! 
Blessed child ! happy child ! 

Her godly parents would sooner place a biting serpent, 
a stinging adder in her hand, than a novel, romance, a 
tale — a siUy, simpering catch-penny — godless, Christless, 
"Little Corporal," "Our Young Folks," or any one of 
the whole hatch of Satan's imps, lauded to the skies by 
the rehgious press ! These sugared pills, instead of lead- 
ing children to God and to Christ, lead them from God 
and from Christ ! While the Bible is a savor of life unto 
life, these "coiled serpents" are a savor of death unto 
death ! 

*' There is a path that leads to God, 
All others go astray." 

The words of Christ are spirit — ^they are life — in the 
closet, in the family, in the hearts of parents and children ! 
The Bible in the heart lolls novels or hes, and novels or Ues 
kill the Bible. Darkness and Hght, sin and holiness can- 
not coalesce : one is Ufe, the other death ; one is salvation, 
the other damnation ! 

Our fervent prayers, our concentrated efforts, are to lead 
parents and children to the Bible — ^to lay aside the chaff for 
the wheat ! 

** Bread of our souls ! whereon we feed, 
True manna from on high ; 
Our guide and chart, wherein we read 
Of realms beyond the sky." 

Parents, in educating your httle ones, please keep your 



66 LITTLE MARY READING WITH HER MOTHER. 

eye fixed on little Maiy.* See what Gospel training can do, 
will do, sJwuld do in every household. Begin with the Bible, 
continue with the Bible, and end with the Bible ! Then 
will the morning stars again sing, and the sons of God again 
shout for joy over the earth, as they did when she roUed 
from the hands of her Maker, and man went forth formed 
in the Divine image. 

The Bible is the grand guide-board to eternity. It telis 
you which way to travel ; it warns you against by-paths and 
wrong roads, against false guides, pits, traps, sHppery places 
and every other danger. If you follow its advice, it will 
conduct you safely along the narrow way, across the dark 
river of death, and up the shining path into the celestial 
city. 

** blessed Volume Divine, 
Let everlasting thanks be thine, 

For such a bright display 
As makes the world of darkness shine 
With beams of heavenly day." 



* Little Mary is now almost five years of age. She reads a great deal, is fond of her 
books, especially the Bible. She is a lovely child. For the last two years we have not 
had occasion to reprove her. She seems to be constantly influenced by the Holy 
Spirit. She delights in family worship, and always takes the Bible and reads over the 
portions of Scripture read in worship, that she may understand it better. Nothing 
interests her as much as the story of the death and sufferings of the Saviour. We are 
obliged to be careful in dwelling upon that subject, as it afifects her very deeply. She 
wonders greatly that all children in the civilized land do not love the Lord Jesus. We 
have no doubt but she is one of those little ones whom Jesus calls His lambs. 

" Happy the child whose early years 
Receive instruction well, 
Who hates the sinner's path, and fears 
The road which leads to hell." 



Address A^uthor of ^^ A^pples of Gotd/^ 

]Vo, 303 \rest Twentieth Street, N. Y. 




HAPPY? THE LITTLEST AND THE BIGGEST? 



Who doubts it ? Look at them, little readers, is there 
a single jar of discord here, the least frown of discontent 
exhibited on the face of one of these children ? Does not 
each one wear a glowing smile of cheerfulness ? What 
makes them happy — the love of Jesus in the soul, ruling 



and reig^nins: ? 



" Love is the little golden clasp 
That bindeth np the trust ; 
Oh, break it not ; lest all the leaves 
Shall scatter and be lost." 



SATAN m-SATAN OUT. -In the Pulpit-In the Press. 



«*Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with 
God ? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy 
of God.*' — James iy. 4. 

Conversation between Me. Timewell and Mr. Servility. 

(No. 1.) 

TimevjeU. " Good morning, Mr. Servility, beautiful day/' 

Servility, "Delightful." 

T. " You are recently from the National Council, Congre- 
gational, held at Oberlin, O., Nov. 15, 1871. What for a 
meeting did you have ?" 

S, " Si>lendid ! It was love from first to last — ^love, love, 
love!" 

T. " Is this love you speak of Bible ? If not it is false-^ — 
spurious! Did it lead you or the 'Council' to rise up 
against evil-doers — stand up against the workers of iniquity? 
If not, there's no God in it — ^no Christ. What kind of love 
is that, that lets wolves into God's enclosures, to carry off and 
devour the sheep and dear lambs of the flock without a 
single warning — ^uplifted voice — ' Wolf, wolf !' ' First pure 
then peaceable.' *What peace?' said Jehu to Joram. — 
2 Kings ix. 18. 

" Had you the love of Nathan the prophet, when he said 
to David, 'Thou art the man?" Had you Samuel's love 
when he hewed Agag to pieces ? How much did Eli love 
his sons, while permitting them to serve the devil as much 
as they pleased ? God calls this hatred — ' He that spareth 



70 SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 

the rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth 
him betimes." * Yoiir glorying is not good/ Mr. Servihty.'' 
S. " Explain yourself, Mr. Timewell." 
T, " Eead the following from your printed reports : 

* * Had Henry Ward Beechcr been present to preach the opening 
sermon, as was expected, and as he would have been, but for an un- 
fortunate blunder as to the time appointed, it seems probable that 
he would have been elected Moderator. * 

" On glancing my eye on this eulogy, I stood aghast ! 
trembled ! shook from head to foot ! exclaimed aloud, 
' What are we coming to ; what will the devil do next T 

" ' Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth : for the Lord 
hath spoken : I have nourished and brought up children, 
and they have rebelled against me.' 

" ^ The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's 
crib , hut Israel doth not know, my people doth not con- 
sider.' 

" ' Why should ye be stricken any more ? ye will revolt 
more and more : the whole head is sick, and the whole 
heart is faint.' 

" ' From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there 
is no soundness in it.' 

'" ' Except the LOKD of hosts had left unto us a very 
small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, mid we 
should have been hke imto Gomorrah.' " — Isa. i. 2, 9. 

/SI " What has Beecher done so terribly wicked ?" 

T. " What has he not done to lower the Gospel standard 
. — ^bring into disrepute the blessedness of the blessed, and 
raise Satan's flag sky-high ?" 

S. " Facts are called for, Mr. Timewell, in Courts of Jus- 
tice — mere assertions without proof are ropes of sand, go 
for naught." 



SATAN m — SATAN OUT. 71 

T. " ' This witness is true; wherefore rebuke them sharp- 
ly, that they may be sound in the faith..'— Tit i. 13. 

" Again : ' their sorrows shall be multipHed that hasten 
after another god.' — Psa. xvi. 4. ' There be gods many, 
and lords many.' — 1 Cor. yiii. 5. Pride is a god, gold is a 
god. ^ Covetousness is idolatry.' ' The love of money is 
the root of all evil.' 

" What proved the ruin of Achan ? ' The wedge of gold ? 
Why was Balaam, the false prophet, rebuked by the dumb 
ass, and perished finally in the gainsaying of Core ? — Jude 
11. Was it not for reward, the wages of unrighteousness? 

" What induced Judas to betray his Master ? Was it 
not the love of gain ? Would he have done this dark and 
damning deed, had it not been for reward — ^thirty pieces of 
silver ? 

" Was it not covetousness or love of gain that led Ananias 
and Sapphira to He against the Holy Spirit, and for which 
hes they were struck dead instantly ? 

" Why did Simon the sorcerer, crave the miraculous power 
of heaHng, to whom Peter said : ' Thy money perish with 
thee, becaus'e thou hast thought that the gift of God may 
be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot 
in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. 
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if 
perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.' 
—Acts ix. 20, 21, 22. 

" Would Henry Ward Beecher have written ' Norwood ' 
for that wretched sheet, the N. Y. Ledger ? and also for the 
theater, the hot-bed of lewdness ; had it not been for the 
' accursed lust' of gain, $30,000 ? the wages of unrighteous- 
ness? Furthermore, would he continue his contributions 
regularly to this ^dle Weekly, were it not for tliis same 



72 SATAN IN— SATAN OUT. 

damning sin of Achan, Balaam, Judas Iscariot, and of 

Simon the sorcerer T 

J. 

** Gold banished honor from the mind, 
And only left the name behind ! 
Gold sowed the world with every ill ; 
Gold taught the murderer's sword to kill ! 

'Twas Gold instructed coward hearts 
In treachery's most pernicious arts : 
Who can recount the mischiefs o'er ? 
Virtue resides on earth no more !" 

S. " You place ' Henry Ward' in the same category with 
Achan, Balaam, Judas and Simon the sorcerer — am I 
correct?" 

T. ** When a weak Judas tortured by the rack 

Of conscience, till his life was made a hell, 
Kushed madly to the temple and flung back 
The bribe which tempted him his Lord to sell.* 

"You remember well, Mr. Servility, when placards were 
posted conspicuously in blazing capitals, in New York and 
Brooklyn, signifying that Beecher was to be in. the theater 
such a night." 

S. " Beecher in the theater ! Not in person !" 

T. " His novel — the same thing. 'As a man thinketh so 
is he.'" 

S, "WeU, whatof it?" 

T. " "What of it ? Such a rush to the theaters, devils* 
dens, as never before. And this rush impetuous has been 
continued from that night to this, increasingly ! 

" Novel widting, puffing and reading, also have increased 
fourfold. Souls go down to the sides of the pit of woe 
everlasting, through the instrumentality of this one novel 



SATAN IN— SATAN OUT. 73 

^mter and money lover! How many, think you, friend 
Servility, of once virtuous, innocent, precious youth, will 
date their downward couise to perdition and final damna- 
tion from this one sugared pill — or * coiled Serpent,' entitled 
* Norwood,' advertised and puffed by religious editors and 
teachers dad in garments sacerdotal? Truly and emphati- 
cally, 'One sinner destroys much good/ All right, its 
Henry Ward Beecher ! 

** * Great gifts may please the worldly-wise — 
They show the * pride of life ;* 
But oft they waken evil thoughts — 
Stir up a storm of strife. ' 

" ' "Wo to the world because of offences,' * * but wo to 
that man by whom the offence cometh.' It costs something 
to serve the old Serpent, the devil, the father of Hes, If 
the reward is not dealt out here in full toll, the balance 
by-and-by ! * Some men's sins are open beforehand, going 
to judgment; and some men, they follow after.' — Tim. v. 24. 

" * Be not deceived, God is not mocked ; for whatsoever 
a man soweth that shall he also reap.' 

" ' Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn 
down and cast into the fire.' ' The wicked shall be turned 
into hell, and all the nations that forget God.' * Let God 
be true, but every man a Uar.' " — Rma, iii. 4. 

** No more the sovereign eye of God 
O'erlooks the crimes of men ; 
His heralds now are sent abroad 
To warn the world of sin. '* 



* " The wicked," says David, " walk on every side when the vilest men are ex- 
alted."—/'**, xil 8. 




tiooli out for tlie clogs — Beware of tlieui. 

There are good dogs and bad dogs, as there are good 
men and bad men — good cMdren and bad children. 
"Wicked men, in Scripture, are compared to dog's ; and they 
are the worst kind of dogs, the most dangerous. " They 
return at evening : they make a noise Hke a dog, and go 
round about the city. Behold, they belch out with their 
mouth : swords are in their Hps ; for who, say they, doth 
hear T—Psa. hx. 6, 7. 

" Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast 
ye your pearls before swine : lest they trample them under 
their feet, and turn again and rend you." — Math. vii. 6. 

False prophets that refuse to speak out against popular 

sins, shun to declare God's full council, are called '^ dumb 

dogs, that cannot bai^k." — Isa. Ivi. 9, 10, 11. From these 

run ! — escape for your life ! — Run ! 

74 




Tlie lovely Susan — beautiful ! 

** O what tender thoughts beneath 
Those silent flowers are lying." 

What makes Susan beautiful or lovely? The blessed 
Bible she reads daily ! Grace in her heart, the fruits of the 
Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance — against which there 
is no law ! 

There is nothing so very beautiful or prepossessiQg in her 
external appearance. Susan is not beautiful in what a 
fashionable world calls handsome or beautiful. She is not 
decorated in ghttering costume, tipped off gaily ia fine 
things — gewgaws, flowers and artificials — hke many httle 
girls, inflated with pride and self-importance, that remind us 
of the peacock or butterfly. These vain ones seem to thiok 
more of a pretty face, a new dress, a new bonnet, a new 
coat, or a new hat, than they do of the improvement of their 
minds and hearts — of the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ ! 

75 



76 THE LOVELY SUSAN. 

Show US a girl that spends her leisure moments looting 
in the glass, or making some useless finery, and we will 
show you a girl with a head as symmetrical as a balloon, 
and as Hght or vain as the peacock. 

** Some poor little ignorant children delight 
In wearing fine ribbons and caps ; 
But this is a very ridiculous sight, 

Though they do not know it perhaps. " 

Do you not know, httle folks, that the poor sheep and 
silk-worms wore that very clothing long before ? " The 
tuHp and the butterfly appear in far gayer coats than you. 
Dress fine as you will, flies, worms and flowers exceed 
you still." 

Does God take delight in fine clothes, that tend to 
vanity and pride ? " My son, give me thy heart." Why 

not say — 

•* Then will I set my heart to find, 
Inward adorning of the mind ? 
Knowledge and virtue, truth and grace, 
These are the robes of richest dress." 

Susan always appears neatly and modestly dressed, and 
in good taste ; and when once attired, she seems not even 
to think of her personal appearance, as many others do. 
Her costume is plain, neat, simple, modest, economical. 

little girls should always be neat and clean in person 
and dress, because this is an evidence of respectability and 
the fear of God. No lady, who has any regard for herseK 
or any respect for the society in which she moves, will be 
slovenly in her appearance or careless in her attire. To 
dress simply and without ostentation is not only a mark of 
modesty, but of gospel simphcity and purity. 

Susan's adorning is not " that outwai^d adorning of plaiting 



THE LOVELY SUSAN. ' 77 

the hair, and of wearing gold, or of putting on apparel ; but 
the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not cor- 
ruptible. Even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, 
which is in the sight of God of great price." 

Here's the secret of secrets of Susan's loveliness, the sweet, 
heavenly smile playing upon her hps. Female piety lovely ? 
It's the gem of all others which enriches the coronet of a 
lady's character. 

"What robe so rich, so white, so beautiful, as the robe of 
righteousness ? 

** It never fades, it ne'er grows old, 
Nor fears the rain, nor moth, nor cold ; 
It takes no spot, but still refines, 
The more 'tis worn, the more it shines." 

Never yet was the female character perfect without the 
steady faith of piety. Beauty, intellect, and wealth are Hke 
pitfalls ia the brightest day, unless the divine light, unless 
rehgion throws her soft beams around them, to purify and 
exalt, making twice glorious that which seemed all loveliness 

before. 

•* And what, O what is good ? 
'Tis first to seek the favor of thy God ; 
Let thy will blend with his, and honor him 
By walking in the way thy Saviour trod." 

Behold the daughter of innocence ! How beautiful is the 
mildness of her countenance ; how lovely is the diffidence 
of her looks ! 

Her cheek is dyed with the deep crimson of the rose ; her 
eye is placid and serene, and the gentleness of her speech is 
as the meltiQg softness of the flute. 

Her smiles are the enhvening rays of the sun ; the beauty 
of her presence, as the silver hght of the moon. 



78 THE LOVELY SUSAN. 

Her attire is simple : her feet tread with caution, and she 
feareth to give offence. 

*' A bud of moral beauty. Let the dews 

Of knowledge and the light of virtue wake it 
In richest fragrance and in purest hues." 

A well established character for moraHty and virtue, of 
purity of thought and action, is of great importance to 
people of every class and in aU circumstances. But to a 
young lady, a good name is a priceless jewel. It is every- 
thing to her ; in some sense it will clothe her with an attrac- 
tion, a value, an importance in the estimation of others, 
which nothing else can impart. Possessed of a spotless 
character, she may reasonably hope for peace and happiness. 
But without such a character, she is nothing. 

Youth, beauty, dress, accomphshments, all gifts and quali- 
ties will be looked upon as naught when tainted by a sus- 
picious reputation! Nothing can atone for this, nothing 
can be allowed to take its place, nothing can give charm and 
attraction where it exists not. When the character of a 
young woman is gone, all is gone ! Thenceforward she can 
look for nothing but degradation and wretchedness. 

Many are the instances of a single word, spoken at ran- 
dom, in the giddy thoughtlessness of youthful vivacity, with- 
out the shghtest thought of wrong, casting a shadow upon 
the character of a young woman which it required years 

to efface. 

** Modesty, like diamonds, shines most fair, 
More worth than pearls or rubies are, " 




Tall Trees of tlie forest. 



God compares trees to men, men to trees. "When the 
wicked, time-serving, hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees 
came to John as he was preaching in the wilderness, what 
did he tell them? "Now also the axe is laid unto the 
root of the trees : therefore every tree which bringeth not 
forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." — 
Math. iii. 10. 

Christ, in his sermon on the mount, says, " Ye shall know 

them by their fruits : Do men gather grapes of thorns, or 

figs of thistles ? Even so every good tree bringeth foiih 

good fruit ; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A 

good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt 

tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not 

forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fii*e. 

Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them." — Math. vii. 

16-20. 

79 



SATAW IN-SATAN OUT —In the Piilpit--In the Press. 



Conversation between Mr. Timewell and Mr. Servility. 

(No. 2.) 

* Speak thou the truth. Let others fence 
And trim their words for pay ; 
In pleasant sunshine or pretence 
Let others bask their day." 

** Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.'*^ — 
1 Tim, V. 20. 

8, " You spoke reproYingly, Mr. Timewell, if I mistake 
not, of friend Beecher's placing Shakespeare next to the 
Bible in value, and also for his inciting Dickens, the prince 
of novehsts, into his pulpit cordially T 

T. " These facts show which way the wind blows — in 
what direction his sympathies and kindher feelings He, what 
company is most pleasant and congenial. * Chips of the 
same block,' ' jolly fellows well met and well mated, of one 
heart and of one soul. 

" ' As in water, face answereth to face, so the heart of 
man to man.' — Prav. xxvii. 19. 

" * That which is highly esteemed among men is abomi- 
nation in the sight of God." — Luke xvi. 1 5. 

"Shakespeare was hbidinous. The lovely Charlotte 
EUzabeth tottered on the verge of everlasting death by 
80 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 81 

poring over tlie pages of this licentious and bewitcliing 
author. [See her ' Eecollections.' Pages 50 and 52.] 

" Dickens was sensual — a slave to his carnal appetites, an 
open foe to temperance — a caricaturist of God's faithful 
ministers, and who fell at last a victim to loathsome glut- 
tony ! * He dug his grave with his own teeth.'* 

" Intemperance is a crime heaven-daring ! It's a crime 
against ourselves — against others — against God ! 

" ' Be not amongst wine-bibbers ; amongst riotous eaters 
of flesh. 

" * For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to 
poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.' " — 
Prov. xxiii. 20-22. (See also 1 Cor. vi. 10.) 

S. "Both Shakespeare and Dickens, you know, Mr. 
TimeweU, are held in high repute by very many theo- 
logians." 

T. "Kespect ministers esteem them highly for their 
work's sake ? How can we, unless they respect themselves ? 
the cause of God ? walk worthy of their high vocation ? 

"Mark the ridiculous pow-wowings in the Plymouth 
house of worship, year in and year out, when the seats are 
knocked off under the auctioneer's hammer to the highest 
bidder? Pandemonium broken loose, and aU the e^dl 
spirits therein, gabbling and cacklmg nonsense, and Beecher 
in the midst, taking the lead ? What else ? 

*' Therefore, avaunt ! all sober looks, 
All prayers and hymns, and godly books ; 



* Friends of love and of Gospel truth, do any of you question the facts that sensu- 
ality was the god of Charles Dickens? carnal pleasure, fleshly lusts? read, if you 
please, the account of his *' amateur theatricals" — " dramatic revels" — now spread be- 
fore us — written by one of his intimate friends. 

•* If the Lord be God, follow him ; but if Baal, then fallow him." — i Kings xviii. 21. 



82 SATAN IN— SATAN OUT. 

Make God's own house a place of trade 1 
Its lecture-room, a mere arcade 
For vanity — a Fair !"* 

"'A- whip of small cords' suffice for these buyers and 
sellers in a place previously dedicated to prayer, praise and 
hoHness to the Lord ? Nay, the lash of scorpions ! 

" What said our blessed Lord to a class, or money-loving, 
popular-seeking chque like these : * It is written, My house 
shall be called the house of prayer ; but ye have made it a 
den of thieves.' 

" All right, ' hush ! it's Beecher's house! Hush, don't say 
anything !' — Satan rule the day ? No matter, hush ! Beecher 
is king in the Eing ! 

" Look furthermore at the McFarland case, the marrying 
of a dead man to another man's wife !" 

S. " Marrying a dead man to another man's wife ! When ? 
Where ?" 

T, "What else? Was not Richardson breathing his 
last when these nuptials were celebrated ? No marvel holy 
indignation rose to the highest pitch, when this outrage on 
society and the Bible was committed ! If a minister in 
humble life, or one of httle note had done this wicked thing, 
would he not have been deposed and hissed from the com- 
munity forthwith? But it was Beecher that did it, and 
how soon hushed by his party ! Popularity is killing us ! 
We are dying the death !" 



* Similar religious pow-wowings we hear and see at the " Congregational Union 
Festivals," during May day meetings ! Shameful ! Surely 

*' If Lucifer, flying from Hades, 
Could gaze at this crowd with its paniers and paints, 
He would say, looking round at the lords and the ladies. 
Oh, where is All Sinners if this is All Saints?' " 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 83 

*' What if cowards fear and tremble. 
Or dishonest men dissemble ; 
If you know your dut}^ do it, — 
Choose the right and then pursue it." 

S, " You lay mighty stress on light reading, novels, tales 
and stories." 

T. " It's the letting out of waters ; it kindles hell fire 
here, it kindles hell fire there ! But thanks be to God some 
few eyes are opening. That speech of De Witt Talmage 
cut to the quick, did it not ? Sharp as a two-edged sword." 

S. " What speech, Mr. Timewell, the one on white-l^dng 
or the coiled serpents you speak of?" 

T. " The very same." 

S. " Was this intended as a rebuke for Henry Ward ?" 

T, "Who questions it? It was dehvered in the very 
shadow of the Plymouth house, quite under the droppings 
of high-handed iniquity. '' 

S. " Give a specimen or an outhne, if you please ?" 

T. "The question had been put to him — touching the 
' N. Y. Ledger,' ' The Weekly,' and other works of similar 
tendency. He speaks thus : 

" 'This question asked me by letter is vital, and in this Friday 
evening's talk I shall answer it. In every famil}^ where the children 
have come to nine or ten years of age, it has been discussed. The 
family altar is nothing ; catechisms are nothing ; religious instruc- 
tion is nothing, so long as there is an unhealthy periodical in the 
house. From the two leprous lips of that one sheet there will be a 
poison breathed on the family Bible, on the piano, on the arm-chair, 
on the cradle, on the dining- table, and the whole house will be 
plague-smitten. The question amounts to this : ' Shall my family 
be blessed or blasted ?' 

*' ' I give an infallible rule. Seek some one who has been reading 
a paper for several years, and lind out if her character is growing 



84 SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 

more symmetrical, is she a better daughter, a holier mother, a more 
consistent church member. If, on the contrary, her talk is groveling, 
her imagination debased, her ideas of life twisted and sprung, then 
better decree that such a paper shall not come into your house by 
postman or messenger, or as wrapping paper around a dry-goods 
bundle.' * Every tree is known by its fruits.' 

** * If there be one gulf in hell deeper than another, it shall be the 
doom of those newspaper men whose pen is stabbing to death the 
purity of American society. The newspaper stands are blotched 
with accursed pictorials, and I pray God that if these polluters of 
public morals may not be arrested by the voice of conscience, or 
silenced by the indignation of our sorrow-struck communities, that 
then they may be hurled out of this life speedily, that the plague 
may be staid. God redeem our country from the damning influence 
of a corrupt newspaper literature. ' " 

S, " Is this the kind of hterature Beecher has been send- 
ing forth r 

T. " With hghtning speed. Year in, year out, for ten, 
fifteen or twenty years, to curse nations yet unborn ; and 
is still rushing the same Satan's cars ! And who rebukes 
this wickedness ? Who is on the Lord's side, who ?" 

S, " Is it true as reported, that Mr. Beecher said in a 
sermon recently, ' God bless the theaters ?" 

T. " This assertion he denies, but why should he not bless 
theaters, operas and other sink-holes of moral pollution, 
when time after time he has put his shoulder to these same 
wheels of Satan ? It's merely following the train of his 
other carnal amusements. It is only saying ' Go on, Mr. 
Devil, you have my best wishes, hearty co-operation !' I 
speak not unadvisedly. I have just cHpped this from a 
rehgious weekly : 

'* *Bay City is trying to induce Henry Ward Beecher to open the 
new Opera House. Having recently consecrated places of amuse- 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 85 

ment, in general, it is believed that he will not refuse to dedicate 
this particular one.' 

" ' By whom shall Jacob arise ?' * "Who will rise up for 
me against the evil-doers ? or who shall stand up for me 
against the workers of iniquity T 

** * Cry aloud, ye sons of men, 

Like a trumpet lift your voice ; 
To my people show their sin, 
And the guilt of Jacob's house. 

" Novel-selhng and novel-reading could not long exist, 
were it not upheld and patronized by those having a name 
to hve, and are dead, lovers of pleasure, more than lovers 
of God. Idolatry in dress and equipage could not long ex- 
ist were it not sustained by an idolatrous church and 
ministry. So with every evil. 

" It is in the power of the church, fiUed with the love of 
Christ, clad in the full armor of God's righteousness, to 
cause the earth to blossom as the rose, salvation to go forth 
as the Hght of the morning, and angels to rejoice anew — 
' glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good-will 
to man.' 

" O what guilt, mountain-weight, rests upon the church ! 
WiU not God visit for this ? 

" What iniquity is there that is not upheld, sustained, 
perpetuated by the professed followers of the Lord Jesus 
Christ?" 




J^SJ-^rCSc 



Family Bible Readings. 



Do not angels behold a pictui'e like this, complacently, 
joyfully ? Could they if this same lovely family were seated 
around a chess board, biUiard table, or pouiing over a 
novel, a tale of fiction— mth Hghtness of speech, senseless 
gabble— the fool's laughter ? " Wisdom is justified of her 
childi'en." 
86 




THE HAPPY MOTHER TRAINING LITTLE FOLKS. 



" Of all the spots that heaven has blest, 

The dearest place is home : 
'Tis there the fond heart loves to rest, 

And never loves to roam : 
Wliile love plays round the smiling heartli, 
'Tis luaven's own bliss enjo^-ed on earth." 



SATAN IN-SATAN OUT.-In the Pulpit-In the Press. 



Conversation between Mr. Timewell and Mr. Servility. 

(No. 3.) 

** Some will hate thee, some will love thee, 
Some will flatter, some will slight ; 
Cease from man, and look above thee, 
Trust in God, and do the right." 

/SI "]\Ir. Timewell, you alluded to a ^Eing.' What 
Eing— the ' Tammany f " 

T. "Worse, ten-fold! Indeed, there would have been 
no Tammany ' Eing ' dreamed of had the church done her 
duty and not succumbed to popular iniquity. This doctrine 
of expediency — compromising with sin and Satan — is a 
curse to both church and State. The guilt, crimson-colored, 
lies at our door. The 'Tanmiany,' deviHsh as it is, is a mere 
offshoot of the theological ' Eing,' or of the Sanhedrim ! 

" Look at the majority of the sermoni zings, the religious 
editorials. What are they? life, soul, power Holy Spirit 
teachings ? Are popular sins exposed ? Cross the popular 
' Eing ?' deviate a hair's breadth from the Sanhedrim ? Not 
for the world ! 

"The 'Eing' is often approached, even to its edge, and 
we begin to pray and to hope a stepping outside, and a httle 
Gospel. But alas ! ' hope deferred maketh the heart sick.' 
These ' Eing ' folks turn back, whiffle about, keep within the 
circle. 

88 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 89 

" * The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying 
bows, turned back in the day of battle.' — ^PsaL xxxvii. 9. 

" Ephraim is a cake not turned. 

" Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth 
it not ; yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he 
knoweth not. 

" And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face, and they do 
not return to the Lord their God, nor seek him for all this. 

" *The veriest coward upon earth 

Is he who fears the world's opinion ; 
Who acts with reference to its will, 

His conscience swayed by its dominion.* 

"Sin is winked at, covered, passed over. What now? 
Prosper? God says not, and we beheve God what He 
says. 

" Prosper ? and cover sin, the vilest, the most devilish ? 
Who says so? God? Not a word of it. Israel prosper 
and let Achan alone with his golden wedge ? Prosper and 
not hew Agag to pieces ? The very vitals of salvation are 
eaten out. The haK told? Not a fiftieth part! Angels 
weep — ^heaven is veiled in sackcloth ! The devils rejoice — 
hell is in jubilee ! 

" The doctrine of worldly expediency and compromise is, 
of all sins, the most destructive, soul-ruinous, to both church 
and State. And at no sin does God thunder anathemas 
more terribly ! 

"We are making infidels by scores and thousands — 
causing the enemies of truth to rejoice and blaspheme ! 
Look out for thunderbolts from high heaven, causing every 
ear to tingle ! 

" * Ephraim feedeth on wind, ... his iniquity is bound up ; 
his sin is hid.' 



90 • SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 

" ' I hate, I despise your feast-days, and I will not smell 
Qi your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me yoiu" burnt 
offeiings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them ; 
neither will I regard the peace offeiings of your fat beasts. 
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs ; for I will 
not hear the melody of thy viols.' — Amos v. 21, 22, 23. 

" The Papacy, bad as it is, murderous as it is, idolatrous, 
superstitious and soul-roinous as it is, is a myth, a shadow, 
compared to what we, called Protestants, are coming to, 
except we mend our ways." 

S. "How is this?" 

T. " We are sinning against superior Hght — ^holding the 
truth in unrighteousness. ^ The wrath of God is revealed 
from heaven against us.'— Rom. i. 18. Turn also to Math, 
xiii. 12 ; Acts xvii. 30. 

" ' Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou 
not thyself ? — ^thou that preachest a man should not steal, 
dost thou steal ? Thou that sayest a man should not com- 
mit adultery, dost thou commit adultery ? — thou that ab- 
horrest idols, dost thou commit saciilege ? Thou that 
makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dis- 
honorest thou God ? For the name of God is blasphemed 
among the Gentiles through you.' " 

S. " Do you make it out that the Scribes and Pharisees 
were in this same ' Ring ' you speak of ?" 

T. " Truly and emphatically ! And ' darkness was on 
the face of the deep ;' and ' gross darkness covered the 
people.' It's so now ! — worse !" 

S. " What say you of Christ and his apostles ?" 

T. " Christ was bom out of the ' Ring,' hved out of it, 
died out of it, went to glory out of it ! But his pathway 
was sprinkled with blood, every step, till nailed to the cross!" 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 91 

8. "How with the apostles — Paul, Peter, James and 
John?" 

S. " After the baptismal power given, the tongue of fire, 
they were out of the ' Eing' completely — ^kept out of it, died 
out of it, went to glory out of it ! — and like the Master, the 
Lord of glory, they resisted unto blood, striving against sin 
all the way." 

S. " Have there not been those outside this ' King,' more 
or less walking in white from time to time immemorial ?" 

T. " Even during the days of bloody Popery. 

" Luther, blessed man, stepped outside the 'King.' What 
now ? Tie him to the stake ! — ^burn him up ! 

"Wesley, blessed man, ventared outside the ^King. 
What now ! — confiscation ! 

" Bunyan, blessed man, stepped outside the ' Ring.' 
What now ? Shut him up ! — ^incarcerate him twelve years ! 

" Take brother Geo. B. Cheever's case, of modern date — 
blessed man. Scarcely had he stepped one foot outside this 
* Ring ' of the Sanhedrim, ere, seemingly, all the bull-dogs 
of the infernal regions were let loose upon him I" 

S. " By whom ?— outsiders ?" 

T, " Not a dog would have moved his tongue had not the 
yelping began inside the ' King,' and that too by the leaders 
of his own denomination !" 

S. "Is Cheever dead?— have the 'King' folks killed 
him?" 

T. " Dead ! Kill one of God's chosen ones in the battle- 
field till the work is finished assigned to him? "Wlien? 
where ? Did Paul die ? When ? Before he fought the 
good fight, or after ? Look and see. A tiTie man of God 
die, standing in front of battle, loading and firing in quick 
succession — storming the fort of Satan — causing him to fall 



92 SATAN IN— SATAN OUT. 

as ligMning I Where ? Such a soldier of the cross never 
dies ! Though dead he hves — and Hves for eyermore ! " * 

*' Truth is earnest, truth is fearless, 
Ever dwelling in the light ; 
Still by error's frowns undaunted, 
Striving only for the right." 

" If God be for us, who can be against us ?" " Fear not 
them which loll the body, but are not able to kill the soul ; 
but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and 
body in heU."— Math. x. 28. 

" I am not come to send peace on earth," saith the Lord, 
"but a sword."— Math. x. 34. 

** Thy saints in all this glorious war 
Shall conquer, though they die ; 
They view the triumph from afar. 
By faith they bring it nigh." 

" God has a work for brother Cheever when his enemies 
'shall hck the dust' and his persecutors are dead and 
buried. Some of them are already dead — 'twice dead, 
plucked up by the roots.' 

* " God sends some teachers unto every age, 
To every clime, and every race of men. 
With revelations fitted to their growth 
And shape of mind, nor gives the realm of Truth 
Into the selfish rule of the whole race ; 
Therefore each form of worship that has swayed 
The life of man, and given it to grasp 
The master-key of knowledge — reverence, 
Enfolds some gems of goodness and of right, 
Else never hath the eager soul which loathes 
The slothful down of pampered ignorance, 
Found in it even a moment's fitful rest." 

303 West Twentletli Street, New York. 




Poverty in. death., but glorious I 



This aged saint died as slie Kved — ^Kved as she died. She 
lived in poverty — died in poverty. And yet, rich nil the time ! 
her income was unbounded ! " There is that maketh him- 
self rich, yet hath nothing : there is that maketh himself 
poor, yet hath great riches." 

"Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen 
the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom 
which he hath promised to them that love him ?" — James ii. 5. 

Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. 

93 




SEE THIS WOMAN ON A RED OF LANGUISHMENT 
NIGH UNTO DEATH. 

What for ? What the first cause — sin ? Had not sin 
entered, there would have been no sickness, no pain, no 
death. 



SATAN IN-SATAN OUT.-In the Pulpit-In the Press. 



Conversation between Mb. Tuiewell and Mk. Seevility. 

(No. 4.) 

' ' This life is a battle with Satan and sin, 
And we are the soldiers the victory to win, 
And Christ is the Captain of our little band, 
Whatever opposes, for Him we ghall stand." 

T. " Allow me, Mr. Servility, to repeat, wliat I have more 
than hinted at, once, t^dce, three times, that this man ex- 
pediency doctrine, is death, double death, it's damnation in 
chm-ch and State. It's the lej^rosy of the age, a cancer on 
the body pohtic. It kiUs life, spuitual, in the church, the 
ministry, the editorship, in seminaries of learning. It's a 
curse to this nation, every nation, to every benevolent insti- 
tution. The false prophets of old compromised, and it 
killed them dead ! King Saul compromised, and it killed 
him dead. The Scribes and Pharisees compromised, and it 
knied them dead ! Judas compromised, and he went to his 
ov^n place. Ananias and Sapphira compromised, and it 
killed them dead ! Peter compromised once or twice, and 
he wept bitterly ! This same compromising has been going 
on and on till the whole world is filled with compromisings 
and compromisers, and where are we now? dead — dead 
and damned, in the church and out of it !" 

S. " You place our friend Beecher, I perceive, among the 
popular seekers, time servers, or among those who compro- 
mise sin and Satan, and yet, how question his usefulness ? 

95 



96 SATAN IN— SATAN OUT. 

He says of himself, again and again, * People will go where 
they are fed, and will not go where they are not fed.' " 

jT. " What is the food alluded to by this distinguished 
divine ? Gospel food, that nourishes the soul ? What does 
he preach ? The doctiines of the Bible, ' hohness to the 
Lord,' entu^e consecratedness to God's service ? Does he 
tell his audience to ' come out from the world and be sepa- 
rate, and touch not the unclean thing' — abstain from all 
appearance of evil ? When ? Where ? 

" People judge differently as to what is worth hearing, as 
preachers differ as to what is worth saying. Very many 
are dehghted with nonsense, tiifling witticisms in the pulpit, 
foohsh talking and jesting, and * heap to themselves teach- 
ers having itching ears,' who would find no pleasure in 
hearing the sermon on the mount. This popular preacher, 
boasting of the multitudes that flock to hear him, should 
bear in mind that there are many kinds of ' fodder, and a 
correspondingly great variety in the feeders of the fodder. 
The crow, that would turn up his nose at the manna that 
fell in the wilderness, would riot in the carrion that made 
the dove fly away in disgust. The common supposition, 
that a man ' feeds' multitudes because they go to hear him, 
or that another man has nothing ' worth hearing' because 
his audiences are not so large, is the sheerest nonsense. 
The man is puffed up, the love of applause has killed him. 

" ' That which is highly esteemed among men, is abomi- 
nation in the sight of God.' " — Luke xvi. 15. 

ELOQUENCE IN SPEAKING AND WRITING. 

S. "Beecher is eloquent, you must acknowledge, from 
the fact that so many flock to hear him — hang upon his 
lips." 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 97 

r. " What makes him eloquent ? by the prayerful study 
of the Holy Scriptures, copying after the holy prophets 
and apostles ? or by writing, puffing and reading novels ? 
pouring over the writings of corrupt authors, a hbidinous 
Shakespeare whom he places side by side with the Bible ? 
From his pulpit delineations, I infer that he is more en- 
amored with Shakespeare and similar authors than he is 
with the pure word of life ! Who, among pubhc speakers, 
have a greater gift of the gab than Unitarians, who deny 
the Lord that bought them, or the deluded Mormons, 
Spirituahsts, and Freelovers ? 

" ^ Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from 
sin ; beguiling unstable souls : an heart they have exercised 
with covetous practices ; cursed children/ — 2 Pet. ii. 14.' 

" Tilton has become marvelously eloquent since taking 
Apolyon into his fond embrace, and Mrs. Woodhull as a 
special help meet ! 

" Who more eloquent than Satan himseK, on certain oc- 
casions ? who can preach a more eloquent, glowing sermon, 
make a more fervent, or orthodox prayer, quote Scripture 
more fluently? And does not his satanic majesty give 
special aid to his faithful servants ? The ' old Serpent' may 
not employ a stenographer for the pui^pose of having these 
beautiful, eloquent prayers and sermons of his inserted in 
some rehgious weekly or monthly, with his ' Lecture-room 
talks.' 

" Very many pulpit orators have a remarkable flow of 
language, speak with the tongues of men and of angels, 
while Hving in lust, the pleasures of sense, full of pride, 
folly and fashion as they can button up, sei^e the devil 
upliftedly aside, from your admired fidend, the Plymouth 
pulpit orator ! 'Help Lord, for the godly man ceaseth.' " 



98 SATAN IN— SATAN OUT. 

S. " How do you define true eloquence, Mr. Timewell ?" 

T. Using the Bible term, there is no eloquence woiiihy 
the name, save soul eloquence, the fire of heaven, salvation 
fire, emanating directly from God himself, the third heavens. 
It's fire, jfire ! fire ! It begins with fire, soul-kindHng, soul- 
subduing, soul-elevating, and keeps on with the same glow- 
ing, sparkhng, heavenly fire to the end. It's the Holy 
Spirit's dictations, inspirations. A speaker in God's stead 
must not only profess Gospel, but possess Gospel in his in- 
most soul, deep down, and this same Gospel of God in the 
soul must be lived out, seen, felt, known and read of all 
men. ' Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, 
deceiving your own selves.' — James i. 22. 

" The more holy the servant of God is, the more deeply 
and frequently he diinks at the * Fountain of Living 
Waters' — the more earnestly, fervently and constantly he is 
at the mercy-seat — ' hfting up holy hands without wrath 
and doubting,' the more eloquent of course : heavenly 
sparks fly here, fly there — fires pentecostal blaze out here, 
blaze out there. It's fire, ^^e ! Jire ! Lord, send these fire 
brands of heavenly fire." 

S, " Please give a few specimens." 

T, " Moses, though he told the Lord he was not eloquent, 
but ' slow of speech, slow of tongue,' yet, who more elo- 
quent? Look at his pen, what seest thou? Fire from 
first to last, fire on fire ! He began with fire at the burn- 
ing bush, and kept on with fire increasingly tiU God kissed 
him away. The same fires he kindled while here, are stiU 
burning and wiU continue to burn forever ! Though dead 
he speaks — ^kindles fires. Blessed man !" 

S, "Who next?" 

T, " It is fire ! fire ! fire ! aU the way from Genesis to 



SATAN IN— SATAN OUT. 99 

Kevelation. The fire of beauty, of sublimity. The Psalms 
are full of it ; Jeremiah is full of it ; Ezekiel is full of it ; 
Daniel is full of it ; Hosea, Michah, Habakkuk, Zechariah, 
and Malaclii are full of it. ' The blessed Jesus spake as 
never man spake : with authority and not as the Scribes.' 
The word of God was in his soul, rooted and grounded, 
burningiy, everlastingly. 

*' ' The Bible — book of wondrous love, 
Borne from God's eternal throne 
In mercy's arms to fallen man, 
To tell the mission of the Son.' 

" Paul IS full of this Bible eloquence or holy fire pente- 
costal ; Peter, James, and John — ^fire on fire ! Every 
thought is condensed, brought to a burning focus ! * 

" The Bible is the book of holy eloquence. In compari- 
son, Byron loses his fire, Milton his soarings. Gray liis 
beauties, and Homer his grandeur and figures. No eye 
like rapt Isaiah's ever pierced the veil of the future ; no 
tongue ever reasoned like sainted Job's ; no poet ever sang 
like Israel's Shepherd King, and God never made a wiser 
man than Solomon. The words of the Bible are pictures 
of Tmmortahty, dews from the tree of Knowledge, pearls 
from the river of Life, and gems of celestial thought. As 
the moaning shell whispers of the sea, so the Bible breathes 
of love in heaven, the home of angels, and joys too pure to die. 

* How did Jeremiah exhibit his eloquence ? Turn to his Lamentations ; " They 
that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious 
seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.'''' — Psa. 
cxxvi. 5, 6. 

How did Paul display his eloquence? By writing novels for the ready cash? De- 
liver popular lectures at opera houses, write and speak funny things, foolish and vain, 
to excite the fool's laughter? Turn to Paul's Epistles. Read especially the i2th of 
Romans. 



100 SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 

* * What glory gilds the sacred page, 
Majestic, like the sun ! 
It gives a light to every age, 
It gives, but borrows none.' 

"Parents and cMdren, pastors and teachers, religions 
editors and book makers, little folks and great folks, are you 
desirous to improve your style in writing and speaking ? to 
possess this glowing eloquence, beautiful, majestic, glorious, 
sparkling, bright as the noonday sun ; full of fire ; pure, 
virtuous, heavenly ? Go to the Bible, the Book of books ; 
read it, search it, pray over it, meditate in it, drink into its 
spmt, hide it in your heart, commit it to memory. Go over 
it and over it till you can say : * O how love I thy law ; it 
is my meditation all the day.' ' How sweet are thy words 
to my taste ; yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. 

** * This precious food our heart revives : 

What strength, what nourishment it gives ! 
Oh, let us evermore be fed 
With this divine, celestial bread. ' 

" Here Ues the secret of pulpit eloquence, editorial elo- 
quence, eloquence that burns, flashes out, cuts like a razor, 
or a two-edged sword, slays on the right hand and on the 
left, causes Satan to tremble, fall as lightning from heaven ! 
Then, every word from your pen and your Hps will be fire, 
fire ! tell on the conscience, the heart, the life ; be a barbed 
aiTOw to the guilty one, in the church or out of it. Oh for 
this Bible-fire, the fire of the Bible ! The Lord send it. 

** *One fragment of his blessed word 
Into the spirit burned, 
Is better than the whole, half heard. 
And by thy interests turned." 




THE LITTLE THIEF CAUGHT IN THE ACT. 



" Theft will not be always hidden, 
Though we fancy none can spy ; 
When we take a thing forbidden, 
God beholds it with his eye." 




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ELIJAH FED BY THE RAYENS. 1 Kings, 

xvii. 5-6. 

Elijah was a good man, perfect in his generation ; and, like 
Enoch and Noah, he '' walked with God," and •' God took him. 

Young folks, what think you — do you suppose 
the Lord would have sent Elijah food, night and 
morning, by these ravenous birds, if he had been 
wicked, a false prophet, man-fearing or time-serving 
— a wolf in sheep's clothing? one that bowed to 
conservative, popular views, connived at sin, pro- 
phesied smooth things, healed slightly, cried, 
" Peace, peace," when there was no peace ? Never, 
never. 

Nor would He have translated him, taken him to 
glory in a '' chariot of fire." See 2 Kings, ii. 

" God, give us men. A time like this demands 
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands ' 

Men whom the lust of office does not kill ; 
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy ; 

Men who possess opinions and a will ; 
Men who have honor — men who will not lie." 



SATAN m-SATAN OUT -In the Pulpit-In the Press. 



Conversation between Me. Tdiewell and Me. SEEVnjrr. 

(No. 5.) 

** How fond is man, 
Dressed in a little brief authority, 
To play fantastic tricks before high heaven." 

S. " Beecher has his admirers after all, ]\Ir. Timewell. 

T. " So had the false prophets in the time of Jezebel — 
those who hstened to their false teachings. 

" No matter how wicked a teacher or professed minister 
of the Gospel may be, how foohsh, vaia, selfish, sensual, 
money-loving, he wlQ not lack for admirers and followers — 
those who embrace his pernicious eiTors, driok into his 
demolish spirit. 

" He may sip the wine-cup, sit around the card-table, the 
checker-board^ engage in idle, frothy chit-chat, attend the 
theater, the circus, the ball-room, write novels, romances, 
sickly, sentimental, foohsh love-stories. Teachers of this 
class vriU be admired. ' They are of the world, therefore 
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.' — 
1 John m. 5. 

" To these, the rehgion of the Bible is not a satisfying 
portion. ' Give us pleasure else we die.' " 

S. " You have expatiated lai^gely on the dark side of our 
fiiend's theology ; why not dwell a httle on the bright side 
of it ? His ' Life of Christ,' for instance, have you not for 

104 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 105 

this a word of commendation ? It has been extolled by dis- 
tinguished D.D/s — J. P. Thompson, Cuyler, Abbott, the 
editors of ' The Eehgious Herald/ the ' N. Y. Evangehst/ 
' Independent/ the ' CongregationaHst/ ' The Baptist Union/ 
and how many others I know not." 

T, " What the ruhng motive of friend Beecher in issu- 
ing this new work ? — ^the same as that of writing 'Norwood ' 
for the 'N. Y. Ledger' and the theater ! "VMio questions it ? 
When the thirst for gold, or ' ill-gotten gain,' has taken full 
possession of the soul, there is no quenching it — ^it bums to 
the lowest heU ! 

* The craving, burning wish that will not rest, 
The vulture passion of the human breast." 

" It's the horse-leache's two daughters crying : ' Give, 
give !' — ^Prov. xxx. 15. Taking this view of the subject, 
what but sacrilege, or blasphemy, high-handed, God-defying, 
can it be in penning it ? This, then, is the capping climax 
of all his former misdeeds. It's adding sin to sin. And his 
pubhshers — puffers — are more or less involved in the same 
gmlt and condemnation ! Suppose, by way of illustration, 
the lying, hypocritical, time-serving Scribes and Pharisees 
had presumed to write a ' Life of Christ ' for speculation at 
the very time they were denying him by wicked works,' 
would not the heavens have gathered blackness, the thun- 
ders have roUed, the lightnings have flashed, in token of 
vengeance of high heaven? What sin could be greater, 
more aggravating? The sin of Judas appears trifling in 
comparison ! It's shocking ! It's taking heaven's hveiy to 
serve the devil in !" 

S. " You Hnk together the whole batch, I perceive — the 
author, his pubhshers, puffers, sellers and readers !" 



106 SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 

T. " From first to last. The partaker is as bad as tlie 
thief. ' Neither be ye partakers of other men's sins.' Take 
another step still lower downwards, if possible. The frater- 
nising Universahsm, Unitarianism, Parkerism, Sphitisms, 
Freeloyeisms—are these from above or from beneath ? from 
heaven or from hell? This fellowshipping the unfruitful 
works of darkness — intermingling Christ and Behal — is 
death to Gospel purity and salvation ! 

* The church and world amalgamate, 
A union worse than that of State. ' 

" If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous 
dor 

S. " Don't Christ say in his parables, ' let both the tares 
and the wheat grow together till the harvest ?" 

T, " That is, let Satan's children remain in the church 
till the end of the world (or age) ! Chiist tells us that ' the 
tares are the children of the wicked one — the enemy that 
sowed them is the devil.' — Math. xiii. 38, 39. 

" Carry out this doctrinal preaching which is now extant, 
and instead of a pure church, ' without spot or wrinkle, an 
holy priesthood, to oJBfer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to 
God by Jesus Christ,' how soon would it be 'a cage of 
unclean birds,' made up of black-legs, liars, thieves and 
robbers — ' the world, the flesh and the devil !' " 

>S'. " Friend TimeweU, allowing as I do and must, that our 
friend H. W. Beecher fellowships what is termed ' Liberal 
Christianity' (semi-infidel), yet can you say authoritatively, 
he embraces Spiritualists and Freelovers ?" 

T. " Actions speak louder than words. Why accept the 
presidency of the women's suftage movement ? did he not 
know at the very time he accepted the office, that not a few 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 107 

of the members of that society were rank free-lovers and 
spuituaHsts of the Theodore Tilton and Woodhull stamp ? * 
* We are known by the company we keep.' ' Can two walk 
together except they be agreed T * Birds of a feather flock 
together.' ' Can a man take fire in. his bosom and his 
clothes not be burned T — Fi^ov. vi. 27. 

" Look at this subject of Free-loveism ; was there ever a 
heresy more abominable or satanic ? Mormonism, as bad 
as it is, does not compare with it. It is simply a demand 
for irresponsible hcentiousness, and if generally practiced, it 
will utterly destroy all domestic happiness, and uproot the 
entire foundations of society. 

" ' And what concord hath Christ with BeUal ? or what 
part hath he that beheveth with an infidel ?' — 2 Cor. vi. 15. 

" ' Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other 
Gospel than that which we have preached to you, let him be 
accursed.' — Gal. i. 8. 

" ' If there come any unto you and bring not this doc- 
trine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God 
speed : For he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of 
his evil deeds.' — 2 John i. 10, 11. 

" « There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst 
thereof. . . . Her priests have violated my law, and have 
profaned mine holy things : they have put no difference 
between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed 
difference between the unclean and the clean.' — Ezek. xxii. 26." 



* This same Tilton, T am informed, is a member in full communion with the saints 
of Mr. Beecher's society ! And how many more of the same faith and order unite with 
the pastor at their regular communion seasons ? " Like priest like people." 




Cain and Al>el offering Sacrifices. 



The Origin of Unitaria/nism or Liberal Christianity. 

God accepted Abel's sacrifice, but would not accept Cain's 
— Cain was a Unitarian ! 

Abel, out of love to God, brought what he knew would 
please God. Cain brought what God did not like, and not 
from love to God. This was no sacrifice at all, and so God 
would not have it. This, instead of making Cain sorry, and 
causing him to bring something like Abel's, that God did 
like, made him very angry with God, and so hate his brother 
Abel, that afterwards he killed him ; which shows plainly 
that it was pride, and not love, that made him bring his 
offering to God. 



THE END OF SCOFFEES AND BLAS- 
PHEMEKS OF THE BIBLE. 

Hear the Apostle Peter (chap. ii. 3, 4) : " Knowing this first, 
that in the last days scoffers will come, walking after their own 
lust, saying : Where is the promise of his coming ?" 

The scoffing and blaspheming Voltaire said to 
his physician : " I will give you the half of my 
property, if you secure me my life for six months 
longer." But when the answer came that he could 
not survive so many weeks, he exclaimed : " Then 
I must go to hell !" Afterwards he alternately called 
upon Christ, and blasphemed God. Mirabeau 
cried, in the agonies of death : " Give me more 
laudanum, that I need not think of eternity, and of 
what is to come." Hobbes fared no better. His 
atheism, also, left him without a foundation in that 
trying hour. He exclaimed : " I am about to take 
a leap in the dark." It is true, the truthfulness of 
these citations, which might be multiplied, is denied 
by the Infidels of our day ; but it must be remem- 
bered that it is to their interest to deny statements, 
however truthful, which might work detrimental to 
a cause to the support of which they are pledged. 
It is a tacit confession, on their part, that a cause 
which forsakes its adherents in the most perilous 
hour is a bad one. 

Says an eminent divine : '' I have seen Universal- 
ists and Infidels die, and during a ministry of fifty- 
five years I have not found a single instance of 
peace and joy in their views of eternity. 







STEAL, LITTLE FOLKS OR GREAT FOLKS? 
Not a pin, a pear, a peach, a plum. 

" On the goods that are not thine, 
Do not dare to lay thy finger ; 
On thy neighbor's better things, 
Let no wistful glances linger.' ' 

A BOY or girl who will steal an apple, a pear, or bou 
quet, will doubtless, by and by, steal other things and 
greater things. 



SATAN IN-SATAN OUT. -In the Pulpit-In the Press. 



Conversation betiveen Mr. Timewell and Mr. Servility. 

(No. 6.) 

*' Woe, woe to him on safety bent, 
Who creeps to age from youth ; 
Failing to grasp his life's intent, 
Because he fears the truth." 

8. " Beecher's history, I perceive, is before your miiid's 
eye vividly." 

T. " Familiar witli it as a, b, c, from first to last. I know 
his twistings, turnings, popular seekings, time servings — 
how much of the Lord is here and there — how much of 
Satan, the old serpent, is intermingled here, intei-mingled 
there. Conceal our iniquity, seal it up or tie it up in a bag, 
put it under a bushel, when it is on a candlestick, blazing 
out ? ^ Murder will out !' * Be sure your sins will find you 
out.' " 

S, " Did our friend Henry Ward jump at once into that 
slow — ^this mud and mire of moral impurity ? Was there 
not a period in his public ministrations when he, measurably, 
repudiated these works of the flesh and spiiit to which you 
aUude so graphically ?" 

T. " ' Measurably !' Well put in. True, there was a time 
when he said, very softly, ' Get thee behind me, Satan !' 
But oh ! how soon after this began he in good earnest to 
bow the knee to Baal — sip the muddy streams of sensuality ! 

Ill 



112 SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 

Where now? Sitting around tlie flesh pots of Egypt? 
Alas ! for broken bones ! and broken cisterns that hold no 
water ! 

" ' Alas ! how the mighty are fallen, and the weapons of 
war perished! TeU it not, pubHsh it not! "Lest the 
daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the 
uncircumcised triumph." ' — 2 Sam, i. 20. 

" * O foohsh man, what hath bewitched you, that you 
should not obey the truth f — Gal, iii. 1, 2, 3. 

" ' Satan's ways are moveable.' Sin is gradual — ^it creeps 
in httle by Httle — ' But a continual dropping weareth away 
stones.' No man or woman leaps at once into the very- 
arms of Beelzebub ! ' Give Satan an inch, he takes an eU.' 

"When Jericho was sacked, levelled to the gTOund, 
Achan hadn't a distant thought of secreting the golden 
wedge, to his own destruction. It never entered the noddle 
of Balaam, in the outset, that he would be, by-and-by, 
rebuked by the dmnb ass for loving the wages of unrighteous- 
ness ! The four hundred and fifty false prophets that sat 
at Jezebel's table were not false or dumb dogs aU at once. 
The first step to their low estate might have been receiving 
honor one of another, and not seeking the honor that 
Cometh from God only. Healing sHghtly, conferring with 
flesh and blood, followed of course. What next ? bowing 
to popular expediency ! So it was then — so it is now. Had 
it been suggested to King Saul, when Samuel poured the 
anointing oil on his head, elevating him to the kingly office, 
that he would ever have spared Agag and the best of the 
sheep and oxen, in positive disobedience to heaven's high 
mandate, or that he would consult the witch of Endor, he 
would doubtless have been exasperated ! Did the Scribes 
and Pharisees become whited sepulchres all at once? 



SATAN IN— SATAN OUT. 113 

Very likely they began with tithing mint, anise and cumin, 
and omitting the weightier matters of the law — ^judgment, 
mercy and faith ! Had any one told Henry Ward Beecher 
at the time he penned his ' Lectures to Young Men/ that 
he would eventually fall into Satan's trap, accept a bribe, 
write a foohsh novel for $30,000 for the 'N. Y. Ledger' and 
the theatre, take Old Nick into his lap and dandle him on 
his knees, would he not have exclaimed, as Hazael did to 
Ehsha : ' But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do 
this great thing? And Ehsha answered, The Lord hath 
showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria.' — 2 Kings 
viii. 13. 

" ^ When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he 
walketh through dry places seeking rest,' etc. Please turn 
to Math. xii. 43, 44 ; also to 2d Peter ii. 20, 21, 22. 

** * First, Appetite enlists him Truth's sworn foe, 
Then obstinate Self- Will confirms him so. 
Tell him he wanders — that his error leads 
To fatal ills — that, though the path he treads 
Be flowery, and he sees no cause of fear. 
Death and the pains of hell attend him there : 
In vain ! the slave of arrogance and pride, 
He has no hearing on the prudent side. ' 

"Friend Servility, did you ever read the tract by the 
lovely and ever blessed Hannah More, entitled : ^ Parley 
the Porter?'" 

S. " Pubhshed by what Society ?" 

T. " 'The American,' No. 150 Nassau street." 

S. "Why, what of it?" 

T, " Henry "Ward's picture is drawn to life by tliis angel 
of a woman !" 

8, " Do you look upon Beecher's case as hopeless ?" 



114 SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 

T. " Wtat saith the Lord ?— ' Unto every one that hath 
shall be given, and he shall have abundance : but from him 
that hath not, shall be taken away, even that which he hath. 
And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, 
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' — Math, 
XXV. 28, 29, 30. 

"Look at those whited sepulchres — ^while the heavens 
were veiled in thick darkness three hours, the earth quaked, 
and the rocks rent, the dying agonies of Jesus on the cross 
rung in their ears, ' Eh, Eh, lama, sabachthani.' Any re- 
lentings or heart-softenings bursting forth from these seared 
consciences? But when 'The centurion, and they that 
were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and 
those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying. 
Truly this was the Son of God.' — Math, xxvii. 54. 

" Even the publicans and harlots enter the kingdom sooner 
than many who say ' Lord, Lord.' ' There is a sin unto 
death : I do not say he shall pray for it.' — 1st John v. 16. 

S. " And yet, Mr. Timewell, the good Dr. Watts teUs us, 

* That while the lamp holds out to burn, 
The vilest sinner may return.' " 

T, " It's a fearful thing, Mr. Servihty, to grieve the Holy 
Spirit by sinning against hght. If the hght that is in us 
become darkness, how great that darkness ! 

" Hear what Christ says to the man who digged in the 
earth and 'hid his Lord's money,' or the talent given — 
' Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him 
which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall 
be given, and he shall have abundance : but from him that 
hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath. And 
cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness : there 
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' — Math. xxv. 28, 29, 30. 




More Dogs— ^IVorse and "Worse I Terrible ! 

EuN, run ! escape, flee ! Here is a boy in tlie very jaws 
of a cruel mastiff. Horrible ! In a former article we com- 
pared wicked men and boys to dogs as God does. But all the 
dogs in creation that run mad, biting this one and that one, 
little and big, are not haK so much to be deprecated and 
shunned as "wolves in sheeps' clothing," or even the greedy, 
dumb dogs who cannot or will not bark. 

" Beware of dogs, beware of e^il workers : beware of the 
concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God 
in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no con- 
fidence in the flesh. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, 
and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and who- 
soever loveth and maketh a he. ' I, Jesus, have sent mine 
Angel, to testify unto you these things in the Chiu'ches. I 
am the root and the offspring of Da\dd, and the bright and 



morning star.*' 



115 







WICKED BOYS. 



Wicked ? who doubts it ? Look at them. A wicked 

boy or girl can not be wicked long without being 

known. " Be sure your sin will find you out." Guilt 

shows itself in every thought, word, and deed, and is 

sure to bring disgrace, shame, and misery. 

Boys and girls are known by their looks and the 
company they keep. 



SATAN IN-SATAN OUT—In the Pulpit-In the Press. 



Conversation between Mk. Timewell and Mk. Seevility. 

(No. 7.) 

* * Let the righteous smite me ; it shall be a kindness : and let him 
reprove me ; it shall be an excellent oil, that shall not break my 
head." — Psa, cxli. 5. 

/SI " You call names I perceive, Mr. Timewell." 

T, " This habit I acquired of the old prophets. Elijah, 
Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, not only called 
names but declared the fearful consequences of holding our 
peace : 

" ' Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the 
house of Israel : therefore hear the word at my mouth, and 
give them warning from me. 

" * When I say unto the wicked. Thou shalt surely die ; 
and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the 
wicked from his wicked way, to save his Hfe ; the same 
wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I 
require at thine hand. 

" ^ Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his 
wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his 
iniquity ; but thou hast dehvered thy soul. 

" ' Again, "When a righteous man doth turn from liis 
righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbhng- 
block before him, he shall die : because thou hast not given 
him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness 

117 



118 SATAN IN— SATAN OUT. 

which he hath done shall not be remembered ; but his 
blood will I require at thine hand. 

'^ ' Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, that 
the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely 
live, because he is warned ; also thou hast dehvered thy 
soul.'— ^2^. iii. 17-21. 

"This proxy sinning is one of the commonest, wide- 
spreading, awful, soul-damning in this 19th century. It's 
the curse of the land, in church and State. The devil is in 
it. Look at the pubhshers of Beecher's books, sermons and 
periodicals, and the ministers and rehgious editors of every 
name, that are holding on to his skirts, puffing the man and 
and his works, inserting his ' Lecture-room Talks.' Don't 
they sin by proxy ? His sins are not under a bushel, but 
' on a candle-stick,' seen and known afar off, spreading the 
land over, North, South, East and West — across the big 
waters — from the rising to the setting sun, with Hghtning 
speed ! And yet they are winked at, dark and damning as 
they are ! "Where's Bacon, Thompson, Storrs, Buddington, 
Cuyler, and a host of other eye-witnesses, sitting under the 
very droppings of this blood guiltiness, we have already 
alluded to; why hold their peace ? 

"Why do they not soimd the alarm, cry *WoK! woM! 
look out for the wolf !' Why do they not thunder and thun- 
der, and keep on thundering, louder than seven thunders, 
when they see and hear * the iniquity which God knoweth ?' 
When they see and know that God is dishonored and truth 
is bleeding at every pore ! Is not the love of popularity at 
the bottom of this covering sm, or this sinning by proxy ? 
Beecher is popular, carrying a wide row, to rebuke him 
would be unpopular, he is in the ' Ring/ moves in the same 
circle with us. Besides, there's capital at stake. 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 119 

" Call names ? How help it ? The very stones would cry 
out. Call names ? Louder and still louder, thunder them 
from pole to pole, thunder on thunder — peal on peal. Every 
one in public hfe, in the church, professing discipleship and 
still on the side of Satan, upliftedly, should be held up sky- 
high in all his naked, devihsh deformity, in characters of 
blood ! as a beacon of warning to young and old, httle and 
big. What, kill folks body and soul, murder in open sun- 
sliine dehberately, and no one to scream out, 'murder! 
murder ! imueder !' stop the murderer, hang him ! Quick ! 

" Pilate, Judas Iscariot, Ananias, Simon Magus, Porph^ny, 
Celsus, Galevis, Voltaire, David Hume, and Thomas Paine, 
are united witnesses that ' the way of the transgressor is 
hard' The shocking fate of all these men should teach 
modern opposers of rehgion the end to which they are 
hastening. What cause have Christians to fear when 
another madman raises his puny arm against the Creator 
and Ruler of all things? Do we fear that God cannot 
govern the world ?" 

S. " You dwell on proxy sinning or sinning by proxy, 
friend Timewell, that is, one man's sin becomes another's 
by substitution ?" 

T, " Clear as the noon-day sun. Paul didn't throw any 
stones at Stephen, he merely looked on, and took good care 
of the clothes of them that were stoning Stephen to death ! 
Acts vii. 58. 

"By holding our peace, suffering sin to rest on our 
mutual friend, H. W. Beecher, his sins, scarlet-colored as 
they are, become ours by proxy. Wlien he ^^Tites novels 
and other silly things for 'N, Y, Ledgers' and theaters, ' for 
so much gold,' do we not the very same ? 

" When he goes to the Grand Opera house, to deliver a 



120 SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 

popular lecture for ready pay, do we not accompany him — 
take a seat by his side in this sink-hole, or hot-bed of 
lewdness ? 

" * A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry : 
but money answereth all things.'— JSbc. x. 19. 

" "When he gives loose to a flippant, nonsensical tonge, 
is not this same wicked tongue ours ? 

(( ( lyj^g tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity : so is the 
tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, 
and setteth on fire the course of nature ; and it is set on 
fire of hell.' — James iii. 6. 

" When he engages in carnal pleasin^es and amusements, 
goes to the nine-pin alley, or takes his seat around the chess 
or checker board, or the biUiard table, are we not there 
with him in high glee, having a jolly time — cracking jokes, 
saying, ' Let us eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow 

we die ?' 

** * Will ye play, then, will ye dally 
With your music and your wine ? 
Up ! it is Jehovah's rally ! 

God's own arm hath need of thine !' 

" ' It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a 
man to hear the song of fools. For, as the crackHng of 
thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool.' — Eccles. 
vii. 6. ' The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; 
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.' — Eccles, vii. 4. 

" WTien he says : — 

** * On with the dance ! Let mirth be unconfined ; 
No sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet, 
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet,' 

are we not, meanwhile, in the same merry company skip- 
ping the fantastic toe ? 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 121 

" ' Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the 
friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever, 
therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.' 
— James iv. 4. 

" ' If any man love the world, the love of the Father is 
not in him.' 

"A dancing minister soon finds his estimation of all. 
The celebrated Adam Clark, the commentator, says : ' I 
consider dancing a branch of that worldly education which 
leads from heaven to earth, from things spiritual to things 
sensual, and from God to Satan, Let them plead for it 
who wiU, I know it to be an evil, and only evil. " No man in 
his senses would dance," said Cicero, a heathen. Shame, 
then, on those Christians who advocate a cause by which 
many sons have become profligate, and many daughters 
have been ruined. 

** ♦ Oh, world ! how deeply fallen from thy sphere ! 
Oh, mind ! how lost thy noblest wing of thought ! 
Oh, soul, how base thy form — how lost art thou 
To God*s similitude — how deep thy stain !' 

" When he, from the pulpit, intermingles things, solemn 
as heaven, fearful as eternity, with facetiousness, jests and 
trifling witticisms, exciting the fool's laughter, are we not 
present, meanwhile, cackling nonsense, or offering strange 
fire ! And have we not cause to fear that God, in anger, 
will send fire from heaven and bui'n us up, as he did Nadab 
and AUhnT—Levit. x. 1, 2, 3.* 

" Again, false doctrines lead to wicked practices. Do we 



* " And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil ? and if ye offer the lame and 
the sick, is it not evil ? Offer it now unto thy governor ; will he be pleased with thee, 
or accept thy person ? saith the Lord of hosts." — MaL i. 7-8. 



122 SATAN IN— SATAN OUT. 

declaim against these ? or hold our peace, wipe our mouth 
and say we have done no wickedness ? 

"When he meets those around the communion table, 
whose garments are spotted all over with the flesh, denying 
the Lord that bought them, spots in our feasts of charity, 
sporting themselves with their own deceivings, 'feehng 
themselves without fear,' are we not present eating and 
drinking with them damnation to ourselves ? 

" ' For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth 
and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the 
Lord's body.' — 1 Cor. xii. 29. 

" * Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of 
devils : ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of 
the table of devils.' — 1 Cor, x. 21. 

" Mr. Ser^dHty, you get the idea by this time, I trust, 
what I mean by proxy sinning ? Isaiah, however, makes 
the subject stiU plainer. Chapter Ivi. 9, 10, 11 : 

" * All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye 
beasts in the forest. 

" ' His watchmen are bhnd : they are all ignorant, they are 
aU dumb dogs, they cannot bark ; sleeping, lying down, 
loving to slumber. 

" ' Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, 
and they are shepherds that cannot understand ; they aU 
look to thek own way, every one for his gain, from his 
quarter.' 




Greorge Wasliington and liis Motliei*. 

What is this lovely mother doing ? imparting instruction 

to httle George ? From what, the Bible ? — or a novel, a 

book of lies ? Had he been nourished on hes or fictions, 

would he have been honored as the father of his country ? 

Lying makes cowards, in the church and out of it ! Who 

ever knew a writer, puffer or reader of dies or novels that 

was a true Bible reformer — a bold soldier of the cross? 

or one that possessed any good degree of spiritual fire, gospel 

vim or backbone ? Such a thing was never dreamed of ! 

123 







Liittle Mary and lier MotIier« 



A loord to Mothers on keeping Oood Company! 



** At first, the pages of the book 
Are blank and purely fair, 
But time soon writeth memories, 
And painteth pictures there." 

Careful of little Maiy's associations ! None more so — 

*' That no stain of sin may settle, 
Like the dust on wayside daisies, 
On their souls, to soil their sweetness." 

Where can we hope for Yirtuous modesty, gospel j^uiritT 
and simplicity, except in Christian mothers ? 
** How can ye hope that she will live, 
If ye, for flesh, a serpent give ?" 

124 



LITTLE MARY AND Hl^R MOTHER. 125 

When you attire Mary in a beautiful white dress, and 
after a Httle you see it all smutted up, dark with greasy 
spots here and there on it, how speedily you off with it, and 
put on something in its place, nice, plain, neat, and comely. 
You can't endure to see her go shp-shod, or with dirty, or 
spotted garments, a single moment. Are you equally cau- 
tious, beloved, in keeping her soul unspotted by the flesh ? 

" Sophronius, a wise teacher of the people, did not allow 
his sons and daughters, when they were grown up, to asso- 
ciate with persons whose hves were not moral and pure. 

" ' Father,' said the gentle Eulalia, one day, when he had 
refused to permit her to go in company with her brother to 
visit the frivolous Lucinda, ' father, you must think that we 
are very weak and childish, since you are afraid that it 
would be dangerous to us in visiting Lucinda.' 

" Without saying a word, the father took a coal from the 
hearth and handed it to his daughter. ' It will not bum 
you, my child,' said he ; ' only take it.' 

"Eulalia took the coal, and behold, her tender, white 
hand was black, and, without thinking, she touched her 
white dress, and it was blackened. 

" ' See,' said Eulalia, somewhat displeased, as she looked 
at her hands and dress, ' one cannot be careful enough when 
handUng coals.' 

" ' Yes, truly,' said her father. ' You see, my child, that 
the coal, even though it did not hum you, has, nevertheless, 
blackened you. So is the company of immoral persons.' " 

Of all the snares to which children are exposed, we know 
of none more fatal, more ruinous than those which spring 
from improper companions. The Word of God expressly 
forbids associating with evil companions. " Enter not into 
the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 



126 LITTLE MABY AND HER MOTHER. 

Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." " If 
sinners entice thee, consent tliou not. My son, walk not 
thou in the way with them ; refrain thy foot from then* 
path.*' " Be not equally yoked together with unbehevers ; 
for what fellowship hath righteousness with umdghteousnes ? 
and what communion hath hght with darkness ?" " Blessed 
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, 
nor standeth in the way of shmers, nor sitteth in the seat of 
the scornful." " A companion of fools shall be destroyed." 

The very atmosphere of the unchaste or vicious is infec- 
tious, malaria, more to be feared than the deadly shocco, or 
a " bear robbed of her whelps." 

*' Far off the road which leads to death 
Looks beautiful and fair !" 

Tou are, we venture to say, beloved parent, guai'ding this 
precious httle jewel, as the apple of the eye, against the first 
approach of evil — ^the least particle of contaminating influ- 
ence, folding her in the very bosom of the Saviour's love. 

* ' If he lay His hand on the childi-en, 
My heart will be lighter, I know 
For a blessing forever and ever 
Will follow them as they go. " 

Nothing short of continued, steadfast, Bible discipline will 
meet the emergencies of the case. This unwaveidng, cease- 
less dihgence in the path of duty and holy Hving is what 
God indicates in the precept, " Train up a child in the way it 
should go, and when it is old it will not de^Dart from it." 

*' Happy the soul that reads the page 
That guides our youth and cheers our age ; 
Yea, blessed evermore is he, 
O Lord, who learns to come to thee." 



SATAN IN-SATAN OUT -In the Pulpit-In the Press. 

Conversation heticeen Mn. Tbie^^ell and Mr. Servility. 

(No. S.) 

** Art thou faithful ? then oppose 

Sin and wrong with all thy might ; 
Care not how the tempest blows, 
Only care to do the right. " 

S, "Why pounce thus upon Beecher, aim your forty- 
pounders at his head, load and fire in quick succession ? 
Are there not others equally deserying castigation ? You 
teU us * the partaker is as bad as the thief.' " 

T. " Beecher is king in the ^ Ring' — the great high priest 
in the Sanhedi'iin. He stands at the head of this papacy — 
he is the Diana whom all 'the world worshippeth.' — 
Acts yiV^ 21. ' Sns, ye know that by this craft we have our 
wealth.' " 

S, " Friend Timewell, I appreciate your motiyes highly ; 
but is not the picture drawn here too highly colored ?" 

T. " The dearest, sweetest, the most exalted, heavenly, 
gospel truths are trailed in the dust. Exaggerate ? the half 
is not told ! We speak that we do know, testify that we see. 
" If our leaders are corrupt, bhnd leaders of the blind, 
what can w^e expect of the people? Is it a marvel the 
whole world is tottering on the very blink of dark dam- 
nation ? 

* 'Tis when the cross is preached, and only then. 
That from the pulpit a mysterious power * 
Groes forth to renovate the moral man. 
He that without it wields 
The sacred sword, at best in mock display, 
A useless weapon flourishes in its sheath ; 
None feel its edge — none fear it. ' 

127 



128 SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 

" Fiiend Sei^vility, I have merely glanced at a few items 
toucidng the awful, superaboimding, soul-rmnous state of 
things, theologically, from writing lies, puffing hes, selling 
lies, reading lies — httle hes and big hes, white hes and black 
hes — ^hes of first, second and third rate, malignity. Also 
from love of popularity, the receiving honor one of another, 
and seeking not ' the honor which cometh from God only/ 
I have uttered the words of truth and soberness. I beheve, 
therefore I speak, speak what I know and what multitudes 
of God's dear people know and weep over when their 
sons and daughtei^ are decoyed iato the traps of Satan 
through the itistrumentahty of this one man iu sacer- 
dotals! 

"I ask, in the name of our liord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ, how can you help forward these works of the flesh, 
fellowship the unfruitful works of darkness, at a time when 
iniquity of every Mnd abounds, and the love of many wax 
cold? 

" With soul-melting love we can thunder, thunder, hghten, 
hghten— cut here, cut there, on the right and on the left — 
use the two-edged sword of God's truth with ample execu- 
tion! Formalists, dead professors, novel writers, time 
servers, wiU kick at this, kick at that, cry ^ Censoriousness, 
persecution, bitter spirit,' etc., when determined to hold on 
to theii' lusts, though words of reproof used are gentle as 
grace can make them — ^iu language, too, sweeter than angels 
use ! So it was, so it is. ' For every one that doeth evil, 
hateth the hght, neither cometh to the hght, lest his deeds 
should be reproved.' — John in. 20. 

"What now? hush reproof — ^let Satan do his worst? 
What saith the Lord to Ezekiel ? 

" ' And they, whether they will hear or whether they will 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 129 

forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know 
that there hath been a Prophet among them. 

" ' And thou son of man, be not afraid of them, neither 
be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with 
thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions : be not afraid 
of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they 
be a rebellious house. 

" ' And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether 
they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are most 
rebellious.' — Ezeh iii. 5, 6, 7. 

" ' A reproof entereth more into a wise man, than a hun- 
dred stripes into a fool. 

" ' And now, O ye Priests, this commandment is for you. 

" ' If ye wiU not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to 
give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts ; I ^VAill 
even send a curse upon you, and wiU curse your blessings : 
yea, I have cursed them akeady, because ye do not lay it to 
heart.' — Mai ii. 1, 2. 

" My words are ended — speak if thou hast anything to 
say. ' Speak, open thy Kps wide, else forever hold thy 
peace !' 

" ' Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person : 
neither let me give flattering titles unto man. 

" * For I know not to give flattering titles : in so doing my 
Maker would soon take me away.' — Job xxxiii. 21, 27." 

S. " Thus saying, thou reproachest me also !" 

T, " If the coat fits, Mr. Servility, put it on. ' To him 
that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.' 
* How long halt ye between two opinions ? if the Lord be 
God, foUow him ; but if Baal, then foUow him.' — 1 Kings 
xviii. 21. 

"Your name is 'Servihty' — significant, representing a 



130 SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 

class to which you belong ! Are you not tired, sick, ashamecl 
of these galling chains, when it is your blessed privilege to 
be free in Christ Jesus ! 

»* 'Break every yoke,' the Gospel cries, 
* And let the oppressed go free, 
Let every burdened captive rise, 
And taste sweet liberty !' " 

S, "What council give you in Beecher's case, friend 
Timewell ?" 

T, " Jesus Christ's of course. To the law and the testi- 
mony : if we abide not by these, it's because there's no hght 
in us. "What saith the inspired Paul, in a case not dis- 
similar ? Turn to 1 Cor. v. 5, 6 : ' Dehver such an one 
unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spuit 
may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying 
is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the 
whole lump ?' 

" Mark also what follows, verses 9, 11 : 'I v^rote unto you 
in an epistle not to keep company with fornicators. ... or 
covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an 
extortioner ; vdth such an one do not eat.' 

" ' Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked 
person.' ' (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, 
and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of 
the cross of Christ : Whose end is destruction, whose God 
is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind 
earthly things.)' 

« Peter likewise, in his 2d epistle, chap. ii. 1, 2, says : 
' There were false prophets also among the people, even as 
there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall 
bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that 



SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 131 

bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 
And many shall follow their pernicious ways ; by reason of 
whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through 
covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchan- 
dize of you : whose judgment now of a long time lingereth 
not, and their damnation slumbereth not.' 

" I could fill up, and keep filling up, pag-e after page, 
similai^ passages from heaven's inspiration, showing what 
your duty is, and the duty of every one naming the name 
of Christ, ' to be careful to depart from all iniquity.' " 

S, "Are these quotations from the inspired volume 
pecuharly apphcable to the present time ?" 

T. " To all time. What killed the seven chui^ches of Asia 
dead, dead ! twice dead ? Just what you and your National 
Councils are doing. Wherefore did these churches, once 
flourishing, dwindle and dwindle, become more and more 
corrupt, till not fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill, 
and God spued them out? Blind! who more? While 
they vainly and proudly imagined they were rich, increased 
in goods, and had need of nothing, at that veiy time God 
told them they were ' wretched and miserable, and poor and 
blind, and naked.' — Rev, iii. 17. See your picture drawn to 
life and that of your ' Coimcil ' — two hundred and fifty in 
number ! And what doth the Holy Spirit tell you to do ? 
Read verse 18th in this same 3d chapter of Revelation." 

S. " It is said of these same Laodiceans to whom you 
allude, ' they were neither cold nor hot !' Was this wretched 
state of things brought about by healing sHghtly, embracmg 
in full fellowship ' garments spotted with the fiesh ?' " 

T. " The fraternizing also, meanwhile, errorists, false 
teachers and false prophets ? The same you are doing. 
* Behold, how great a matter a Httlc fire kmdleth/ 



132 SATAN IN — SATAN OUT. 

" Haxk ! * But I have a few things against thee, because 
thou hast there them that hold the doctrme of Balaam, who 
taught Balak to cast a stiimbhng-block before the children 
of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit 
fornication. 

" ' So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the 
Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. 

" ' Eepent, or else I will come vmto thee quickly, and will 
fight against them with the sword of my mouth.' — Bev, 
ii. 14, 15, 16. 

" Likewise, hear what the Spirit saith to the church of 
Thyatira. 

" ' I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest 
that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to 
teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and 
to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 

" ' And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and 
she repented not. 

" ' Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that com- 
mit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they 
repent of their deeds. 

" ' And I will kill her children with death ; and aU the 
churches shaU know that I am he which searcheth the reins 
and hearts : and I wiU give unto every one of you according 
to your works.'— i?eu ii. 20, 21, 22, 23. 

" ' He that is unjust, let him " be unjust still : and he 
which is filthy, let him be filthy stiU.' " 

Address.... Author of "THE SWORD THAT CUTS," 

303 W«st Twentietli St., New Yorlc. 



.-_?■ 







THE SLOUGH OP DESPOND. (See Bunyan's Pilgrim.) 




TUe Motlier and tlie L.ittle Owes. 



AbxiNG a blessing, giying thanks for the bounties of heaven 
spread before them ? Beautiful ! What, sit down, eat and 
drink to the full, and not a single out-bursting thought of 
humble gratulations ! Shameful! Even the animals ex- 
press tokens of gratitude for favors conferred. We know 
a little boy, not bigger than our sweet Mary, who never puts 
a bit of food to his mouth, without opening his lips wide in 
thanksgivings to God, the giver of all good. Christ is oui* 
example in this and in everything good and beautiful. 

When he fed multitudes on a few loaves and fishes — 

what the first thing ? Give thanks ? always. See Matthew 

xiv. 19. 

134 



"WIDE-AWAKE AND POPULAR!" 

Indeed, Mr. Editor of the " Examiner and Chronicle'^ 
what makes your weekly so very popular ? On account of 
the novels you insert, advertise and puff? Among what 
class of readers is your sheet popular ? The Godly, those 
whose souls are ahve in God ? or with the giddy multitude, 
the gay, pleasure-seeking, and frohcsome, that pour over 
the rehgious novels you send forth weekly — fictitious tales — 
inlets to reading, the most corrupting, soul-revolting ! By 
filling your sheet thus, do you not pander to the akeady 
corrupt tates of the ungodly ? Is this the way you honor 
the Master ? Is this the food you place before ministers 
and people — newly born souls ? Sunday School children ? 
Mean you ? Yes, we mean you, fiiend editor, you are the 
guilty one whose skirts are dripping with the blood of souls ? 

How many dear, young disciples of the Lord Jesus, have 
akeady lost theu^ first love, retui^ned to begg arly elements, 
*' the flesh-pots of Egypt," pride, folly, fashion, carnal plea- 
sures, the ball room, theater ; then down, down ! to the 
steps of hell! through you? What a feaiiul harvest you 
are reaping ! Sow to the wind ? What now ? reap the 
whirlwind ? Kill piety ? eat out the hfe and essence of Gos- 
pel salvation ? Notliing surer than what you are doing ? 

Do you tell us, friend, that you do not insert black Hes, 
but rehgious? Worse still. Stop your wicked rehgious 
white lying, and we have no black Ijdng.* 

* We tell the *' Christian Intelligencer^^'* *' The American Tract Society,^'' '''Sun* 
day School Uniouy^^ " The Religious Herald,^^ *' The CofgregationalisV of Bostoix 
the very same. Satan is here, Satan is there ! Where is he not ? 

135 



136 WIDE-AWAKE AND POPULAB. 

Stop tippling, and we have no drunken sots, no deaths 
by delirium tremens, no drunkards' graves, no drunkards' 
heUs! 

We may keep our children from the theater, and so train 
them that they shall never desire to frequent it ; but there 
is now an educator presented within their reach which soou 
may undermine all the home lessons of purity, and, by easy 
steps, lead them to perdition. 

The teachings of our schools and our churches must be 
to a great extent in vain, while these wretched panderers 
to depravity are undoing the work of the school and the 
church. One such periodical may do more evU than many 
pulpits can correct. If this raid of license remains un- 
checked, preaching, teaching, and warning will be alike in 
vain. " Help, Lord." 

Mean you ? Who else ? " Thou art the man." We mean 
you, and every one thus helping the devil out-stretchedly ! 

Satan was the first author of novels, and his followers 
have been quite successful in carrying out the principles of 
his school. It was he who first addressed the imagination 
and passions of Eve in the garden of Paradise, and was it 
not a deceptive and unfounded tale, that " brought death 
into the world, and all our woe ?" 

** How shall I speak thee, or thy power addresss, 
Thou god of our idolatry, the Press. " 

*' Life's hours are short and few, 

As transitory as the morning dew. 

*Tis meet that they should be 
Well spent ; for, oh ! if wasted, they but bring 
A present cloy, and, for their closing time, 
Treasure remorse, the spirit's deathless sting." 




TOTS FOR CHILDREN. 

" Tliere is a path that leads to God^ 
All others go astrayj^ 

YiCE and infidelity assail even childhood and in 
fancy, and by means so insidious and infamous, so 
seemingly innocent, that the child is not only capti- 
vated, but even the watcliful and pious parent is likely 
to be deceived and beguiled, until the secret poison, 
thus artfully disguised, has been injected into the 
unsuspecting victim. 



TOYS FOR CHILDEEN. 

Such are the toy cards, toy doniinos, and other 
games, artfully prepared with flowers and cuts, to 
catch the fancy of children, for the purpose of induct- 
ing them into the habit and love of the gambler's art, 
and imbuing them with the gambler's fiendish heart 
and hellish guilt. 

We warn all parents against subjecting their chil- 
dren to the influence of these demoralizing and cor- 
rupting toys. They differ nothing from other gam- 
bling apparatus, but in their adaptation to the capa- 
cities of children ; and on that account are the more 
dangerous, and therefore the more to be dreaded. 
They prompt the same feelings, fire the same nnhal- 
lowed passions, are susceptible of the same uses, and 
work out the same results as any other, even the most 
fraudulent and corrupting gambling apparatus. 

Take another view of this prevailing evil, consid- 
ered by many as laudable or harmless — the toys and 
playthings of every description, with which all our 
fancy stores are filled during Christmas holidays. 

The amount expended on these articles, of little or 
no value, is immense. Is this in accordance with 
Bible stewardship? Were children trained in the 
way they should go, nurtured from early infancy in 
the fear of the Lord, on gospel principles, would they 
delight, as they now do, in these trifling toys? 

" With such poor trifles playing, 
Moments make the year and trifles hfe." 



Tlie liottery Dreamer — Satan. Helping ! 

If church folks gamble, sell tickets, have their feasts, 
festivals, sociables, fancy fairs, tea-parties, oyster suppers, 
post offices, grab-boxes, ring-cakes, scenes of mirthfulness 
and levity, sit down, eat, drink and rise up to play for 
money — why not Satan's children follow suit ? The church 
helps the world. Novels, fictitious writings and readings 
are more or less inlets to this wickedness — gambling in the 
church and out of it. 

No one can deny that the mental passion of gambling is 
as terrible and destructive as the physical appetite for strong 
drink ; and they are, to a great extent, concomitant, sup- 
plementary, one of the other. 

139 



THE BEST FOOD FOR THE MIND " 



What do you mean by this, Mr. Editor of the " Heaiih 
and Home ?'*' Do you tell parents and childi^en that novels 
or religious Hes are the best food on which to feed precious 
immortals ? How large a portion of your weekly is made 
of fiction, or rehgious lying ? silly things to excite the fool's 
laughter ? Look and see ? Do you pubHsh these to please 
the Master ? or to fill your coffers ? 

By doing what you are doing, is it what the blessed Re- 
deemer would do ? Could you possibly put your hand and 
heart to any thing more pleasing to the old Serpent, the 
devil ? You call yom^self a Chiistian ? "What is a Chris- 
tian ? To be like Christ. When about to send forth these 
rehgious or white hes to hundreds of thousands of families, 
do you bow the knee to the mercy-seat and implore the 
Lord to bless these silly tales or white hes to the con- 
viction, conversion and sanctification of parents and 
children ? 

If you feed httle folks and great folks on hes, will they 
not be converted to hes ? Will it add to your comfort, con- 
solation or joyfulness at the final day, to see and know you 
have been instrumental in leading multitudes to perdition ? 
What avail then your " ill-gotten gains ?" the love of filthy 
lucre V Hear James, from the mouth of inspiration : 

"Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are 
moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered ; and the 
rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat 

140 



THE BEST FOOD EOB THE MIND. 141 

your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure to- 
gether for the last days/'— Jam^s v. 2-3. 

You are the Christian man that tells us we must have 
good stories, good tales, good novels, to counteract the bad 
ones — that is, you give your readers good, or white hes, to 
keep out the bad or black Hes. How long. Mend, think you, 
after feeding on your silly, nonsensical white hes, ere the 
little folks swallow greedily the black hes — the blackest of 
the black, the most devihsh? Do you tell us, rehgious 
editors advertise and puff your novel sheet that caters to 
a corrupt taste ? * 

How is this to better the matter ? this putting shoulder 
to Satan's wheels unitedly? Stop this wickedness? No, 
you won't, friend. It's popular to serve the devil, money is 
made by it, and you go it with your compeers. What we 
say to you, we say to the editor of the " Christian Union,'' 
and others, not a few, treading in your steps ! and who 
doubtless will receive the same reward : " Beware ! your 
sins will find you out." 



* The taste for strong drink, the cup that intoxicates, the poisonous, degrading, 
" Indian weed," you are aware is unnatural, vicious, obstinate, deeply rooted, and 
nothing will effectually destroy the relish for these poisons but miraculous or super- 
abounding grace — God's infinite mercy. So it is with the reading or mental taste — a 
taste formed for the light, frivolous, fictitious and vicious ! The forming of this un- 
natural and vicious taste, in both these cases, is the work of Satan, the old Serpent, 
the devil, to decoy, entrap, and ruin both soul and body. It is a question, yet un- 
solved, whether the enemy of all good succeeds in taking more souls to perdition 
through the instrumentality of rum and tobacco, or that of the light, frothy, popular 
literature— novels and romances. Both are intoxicating, dissipating, soul ruinous I 




"iSrO TIME TO PRAY?" 

Indeed ! "Wliat is time ? Whose is it ? Wlio made 
time ? Is time yours, or God's ? Has God given you 
time to live, breathe, walk, talk, pray ? Why not pray, 
then — mind what God says ? God commands you to 
pray, pray always with all prayer and supphcation in 
the Spirit. 

" But I have so much business."^ 

'' Business" indeed ! Wliat business ? Yours, or 
God^s ?" 



* It is said of Martin Luther, that the more he had to do the more 
frequently and fervently he pra^^ed. On one occasion he remarked 
to a friend, ^' I have so much to do to-day that I shall have to pray 
three hours." May not this custom of the great Reformer contain a 
valuable suggestion to us, who, in the midst of a continual pressure 
of duties, are in danger of being " overcharged," and forgetting to 
seek that relief and strength Avhich alone can be obtained in prayer, 
in earnest supplication to Grod ? 




THE HOUSE-TOP : OR, THE ANCIENT MODE OF HOUSE- 
BUILDING. 

The roof is flat, often covered over with solid earth, or a 
kind of plaster made of coals, ashes, stones, and other sub- 
stances pounded together. On these roofs a little grass 
grows and shrubbery ; but these soon wither under the 
heat of the sun. Psalm cxxix. 6-8. 

The roofs of these houses have always been much used 
as places of pleasant retirement, where any one, little folks 
or great folks, can, if they choose, retire to read, meditate, 
and pray— pour out their souls in prayer to God for them- 
selves and for others. On the tops of these houses it is 
common to walk in the evening, enjoy its cool breezes, and 
there, in summer, persons often sleep under the broad arch 
of heaven. On such a roof, Rahab concealed the spies 
with stalks of flax. Josh, ii. 6. Samuel talked with Saul. 




Teacliing Ijittle Mary tlie Way of Life I 



Or Early Piety — " Apples of Gold.'^ 



** When Jesus was here among men, 
He called little children as lambs to his fold." 

A SWEET and lovely spirit of piety in a little child's heart, 
is Hke the sunlight shining on the dew-di'ops of the morning. 

Onr Father is good and kind to his httle ones ; he Hstens 
to their earhest prayers, and rejoices in the first faint fra- 
grance of the opening bud, which, if tenderly shielded and 
prayerfully niu'sed, will even now yield the ripened fruit of 
a holy life. 

" Suffer httle children to come unto me, and forbid them 
not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." 

Jesus was once a child, a holy child ; and here is the 
gi-eat plea for childhood. He who was once a child per- 
fectly understands and sympathizes wdth the heart of child- 
hood. And how dare we hmit the Holy One, and say that 
a child may not be a true Christian ? How^ever early we 

144 



TEACHING LITTLE MABY THE WAY OF LITE. 145 

begin our teachings, we will find that the Holy Spirit has 
been before us. Isaiah speaks of teaching those just 
weaned — here a Httle, there a Httle, precept upon precept, 
line upon Hne — which is the proper manner of teaching 
children. 

Children apprehend rehgious truths more readily than 
almost anything else. It has even been maintained by 
some, that the children that cried in the temple, " Hosanna 
to the Son of David !" had discovered, with their nicer ap- 
prehensions, the Christ whom the rulers ignored. Early 
childhood is certainly the favored time for the inculcation 
of rehgious truth. Then there are no doubts. You never 
meet a child-atheist. The very creduhty of childhood is a 
great advantage. Truth is allied to innocency, and the 
child beheves imphcitly until deception has induced distrust. 
Not that rehgious faith is the gift of nature. But the very 
aptitude to beheve is favorable to the reception of rehgious 
truth. The child has not formed the habit of questioning 
and doubting that troubles so many adults. The old athiest 
can testify to the truth of this. 

Every child knows what it is to love his mother, but can 
he teU you anything more about it than that he feels it ? 
Can any man say more ? 

Every child can take hold of his father's hand and go 
with him in the dark, and that is having faith in his father; 
but he cannot teU what faith is. 

The child Samuel could say, " Speak, Lord, for thy ser- 
vant heareth," though he could not know the voice of the 
Lord from the voice of Eh. 

So the little child can believe in Christ, and love Christ 
though he cannot know all the deep things in religion. He 
can live upon the sincere milk of the word, and grow there- 



146 TEACHING LITTLE MARY THE WAY OF LIFE. 

by, and that is all that is necessaiy for his being gathered 
to Christ. 

So the Httle one does not know how he beHeves in Christ, 
and how he hves by faith, but he does. And the tall trees 
of the forest, and the giant oak on the hiU, can no more 
teU how they are nourished by the rain and the sunshine^ 
than the yiolets that grow in the erack of a rock ; and the 
lofty tree in the garden and the fi^ail Hly are alike fed, they 
know not how. "Wlien the child has said that he feels love 
to Christ in his heart, could a Kewton, with all his great 
mind, say more ? 

On one occasion, a httle child sat quietly upon its mother's 
lap. Its soft blue eyes were looking earnestly into her face, 
which was beaming with love and tenderness. The mater- 
nal hps were busy with the story of the Cross. The tones 
of her voice were low and serious, for the tale was one of 
mingled sadness and joy. The hstening babe caught every 
sound. The crimson deepened on its httle cheek as the 
story went on increasing in interest. Tears gathered in its 
eyes, and a low sob broke the stillness. The child inquired, 

" Did he die for me, mamma — and may I love him always, 
and dearly, too ?" 

" Yes, my darhng ; it was to win your love that he left 
his bright and beautiful home." 

** Scatter ye seeds in the garden of heart — 
Seeds of affection, of truth, and of love ; 
Cultivate carefully each hidden part, 

And the flowers will be seen by angels above. " 



Address ...Author of ''Apples of Gold/ ^ 

a03 West Twentietli Street, New York. 




HERE THEY AEE, FATHER, AND MOTHER, AISTD THE 
SWEET LITTLE ONES. 

These parents united in family discipline harmoniously ? 
Unquestionably ; else, how clock-work, heaven in the do- 
mestic circle ? What father says, mother says ; what 
mother says, father says. When father corrects the little 
ones for disobedience, the mother coincides heartily, joy- 
fully — says, "So let it be." And when mother applies the 
rod of chastisement when it ought to be applied, does 
father interfere, say, " Spare the rod ?" Not for a thousand 
worlds ! He knows it would cause friction, and may-be the 
ruin of the child. Here lies one grand secret of success 
in household training. Without this united, harmonious 
union, where is hope of good family government, salva 
tion ? 




LOOK HERE, LITTLE FOLKS— WHAT DO YOU SEE ? 

BABIES, BABIES — LITTLE FOLKS AND LITTLE FOLKS ? 

Babies here, babies there, little folks here, little folks 
there, heaps on heaps ; and oh ! what a blessing these 
sweet little godsends, trained in heavenly wisdom ! Little 
folks make the world better and happier ? Children trained 
for Jesus are the salt of the earth, lighthouses. The lambs, 
trained up lambs, mild, gentle, loving, in the bosom of re- 
deeming, sanctifying grace, are jDolished stones, olive-plants, 
roses that bloom all the year, send forth a delicious fra- 
grance sweeter than the perfumes of Arabia. 



TABLES TTJENBD-THE WOMAN HELPmS THE EARTH. 



The "World Converting tlie Clmrcli I 

" The church and world amalgamate, 
A union worse than with the State." 

** While men slept the enemy came and sowed tares among the 
wheat and went his way." — Matt xiii. 25. 

Conversation between Mr. Timewell and Mr. Servility. 

(No. 9.) 

S. "What! stiU at it, Mr. Timewell?" 

T. " Is it you, friend Servility, or have you changed your 
name?" 

S. " Not exactly changed it, but since our last interview 
I've been thinking, thinking, thinking !" 

T. " The Lord help you, not only to think and keep on 
thinking, but to think right, speak right, act right, stand 
for truth, obey God, though the heavens fall to rise no more. 

" ' How long will ye judge unjustly : and accept the per- 
sons of the wicked ?' — Fsa. Ixxxii. 2. 

** * Dare to be right ! Dare to be true ! 
Other men's failures will not excuse you.* 

" A man, to be a man of God, must dai^e to be in the 
minority, dare to be despised of men, dare maintain his 
rightful position, though it cost him his life ! 

" Look at the ' Congregationalist,' one of your denomina- 
tionals, on which side is it the most actively engaged ? the 
Lord's or the devil's ?" 

5. "You have eyes behind, eyes before, and on either 

149 



150 TABLES TURNED. 

side. "Wliat sliix3 now has spiTing a leak ? what new fires 
are kindled ?" 

T. "On February 22d, this linsey-woolsey sheet says : * I've 
no objection to Hght reading, the reading of fiction, if you 
take in ballast mth it.' That is, tell famihes, parents and 
children, fii^st of all, take a dose of Hes or fictions, as 
many as you choose, can swallow, cram down, then top off 
with truth enough to balance or equipoise. In addition to 
this shaking hands with Diabolus, what do you see nearly 
every week in this same sickly periodical of yours, under 
the heading, ' Fiction ?' a whole column or more eulogiz- 
ing — Satan here, Satan there — snakes here, snakes there — 
white Hes and black hes, to feed the already visciated taste 
of parents and children ! Could Beelzebub, the prince of 
devils, desire an agent more efficient or competent to peo- 
ple his dark domains, of weepings, wailings and gnashings 
of teeth.? 

" If there ever is such a thing as a jubilee in hell, among 
the hosts at the bottom of the pit bottomless, surely deeds 
like these caU forth one of the most jubilant of a-11 jubilees ! 
the vaults of the infernal regions ring ! And this is merely 
a specimen of what the devil is doing through his active 
and persevering agents hi pulpits and editorial chairs, 
throughout the land! Gui*se on curse, damnation on 
damnation follow rapidly m the train of this wiiting, adver- 
tising and puffing, these rehgious novels — tales of romance ! 

"And, Mr. Servility, you behold mth open eyes this 
blackness of darkness, this hugging the old Sei*pent, and 
not a syllable of reproof or cry of warning is heard from 
your lips ; wherefore ? It's popular to serve the devil. 
Furthermore, ' Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our 
wealth.' — Acts xix. 25. 



TABLES TURNED. 161 

" Tour name is Servility, and Servility it will be. * Though 
thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a 
pestle, yet will not his foohshness de^Dart from him.' " — Pro, 
xxvii. 22. 

S, " You make everything of lying, of writing and telling 
of Hes, Mr. Timewell, Are there not other sins equally repre- 
hensible and mischievous, coming under your notice for re- 
buke ? Why make a hobby of this one ?" 

T, " Name a single sin, Mr. ServiHty, in church or State, 
in high places or in low, that springs not forih sooner or 
later fi'om this ' Pandora box,' this accursed lust of gain, 
filthy lucre! Millions on milhons, twice told, are poui'ed 
into the coffers of these agents of the de^dl through this 
traffic in lying, writing, puffing and selling Ues. The whole 
atmosphere is impregnated with falsehoods. 

"Look into editors' sanctums, what do you see? Hes, 
heaps on heaps. Take a peep into rehgious book stores 
everywhere, what do you see ? Hes ? heaps on heaps, shelves 
groaning under the weight of Hes — black Hes, and white 
lies ? Go into reading rooms, pubHc and private : any Hes — 
snakes here, snakes there ? View center-tables of Christian 
famihes, any Hes to be seen ? Cast your eyes on the paper 
and book stands through our cities, anything hut Hes ? Ask 
these panderers to vice, why they thus help the devil to do 
his deviHsh work ? The reply is : * We must Hve, come life 
come death.' Like the traffickers in strong drink and tobacco, 
the motto is, ' If we don't kiH, poison to death body and 
soul, some one else will.' 

" Into what Sunday-school book store or Sunday-school 
Hbrary are not found fiction, heaps on heaps, that should 
be consigned to the pit bottomless, where it originated ! Oiu* 
mail-bags are loaded with fiction, groaning, being burdened! 



152 TABLES TURNED. 

From day to day cart loads upon cart loads are sent forth 
from our General Post-office, of cursed fiction, to cm^se the 
rising age — ^the whole world ! 

'• Eehgious novels, silly tales, fashion plates, comicals, etc., 
are flooding the land, darkening the heavens hke the flies, 
frogs, hce and locusts of Egypt, but far more dangerous. 
They ' go up and come into thine house, and into thy bed- 
chamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy ser- 
vants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into 
thy kneading-troughs.' 

" Kev. T. Dewitt Talmage says : ' There are enough bad 
newspapers weekly poured out into the houses of our coim- 
try, to poison a vast population. In addition to the home 
manufacture of iniquitous sheets, the mail-bags come in from 
other cities, gorged with abominations. New York scoops 
up from the sewers of other cities, and adds to its own 
newspaper filth.' " 

S. " You talk about white Ues and white lying, where is 
your Scripture for this ?" 

T. " I use the term by way of accommodation, speaking 
after the manner of men. In reahty there is no such thing 
as a httle or white He ; the httlest He, and the whitest He 
ever told is black enough and deviHsh enough to send every- 
one concocting it to ' the lake that burneth with fire and 
brimstone — this is the second death.' 

" This fearful doom denounced upon ' all liars/ ought to 
stop the mad career of these rehgious writers and puffers 
of Hes, who are ' treasuring up wTath against the day of 
wrath.' * Friend Talmage, in his new book, teUs us truly : 



* "A wonderful and horrible thing is commitled in the land. The prophets prophesy 
falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love ^o have it so; and 
what will ye do in the end thereof?" — Jer. v. 30-31. 



TABLES TURNED. 153 

* The most stupendous of all lies is a newspaper lie. If an 
individual make a false statement, one or twenty may be 
damaged ; but a newspaper of large circulation, that wil- 
fully makes a misstatement in one day, tells fifty thousand 
falsehoods. An unscrupulous man in the editorial chair 
may smite as with the wing of the destroying angel.' 

" « The getting of treasures by a lying tongue, is a vanity 
tossed to-and-fro of them that seek death. A righteous 
man hateth lying ; but a wicked man is loathsome, and 
Cometh to shame.' 

" ' I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran ; I have 
not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had 
stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my 
words, then they should have turned them from their evil 
ways, and from the evil of their doings.' " — Jer, xxiii. 21-22. 

" How far may we go in sin — 
How long will God forbear ? 
Where does hope end, and where begin 
The confines of despair ? 

** An answer from the skies is sent : 
Ye that from God depart, 
While it is called to-day repent, 
And harden not your heart.'* 



Address . . .^Author of ^^ Apples of Gold/ ^ 

a03 West TweiitietU Street, New Yark, 




SEE THIS MOTHER, LITTLE FOLKS AXD GREAT FOLKS 

"What is she doing ? Imparting light heavenly to this 
child of hers — telling him about Jesus, who shed his pre- 
cious blood on Calvary to save sinners, little sinners and 
great sinners — " the way, the truth, the life ?" Beautiful, 
ain't it ? Too soon ? Xo, it ain't, mother. You should 
have commenced this blessed work at the earliest intellec- 
tual dawmin^, even before this little one of vours could 
utter a single syllable audibly. Begin where God begins. 
Let your smiles preach, your eyes, your inward thought, 
every muscle. 

We say, and keep on saying, the Holy Spirit is waiting 
to be gracious, ready always to apply the truth, take the 
tliino'S that belono- to Christ and show them even to the 
littlest of the little ones. The Spirit and the Bride say to 
the little folks, " Come." And let every one that heareth 
say to them, " Come." 

The true ideal of Christian culture is — the salvation of 
childhood. 




liittle Mary at lier Bible Liesson. 

Love the Bible ? She dehghts in it, feeds upon it. It's 
her meat and her drink, " a lamp to her feet, a light to her 
path." She reads the Bible more than any other book 
twice told. 

From this blessed volume she receives wisdom, pure, 
peaceable, gentle, heavenly light, hope, joy, "the sword 
that cuts, the fire that burns." Not all the treasures of the 
world are worth haK so much to this sweet little Mary, as 
the word of life. Part with it? "What for? Gold, heaped 
mountain high ? 

** No treasures so enrich the mind ; 
Nor shall thy word be sold 
For loads of silver well refined, 
Nor heaps of choicest gold." 

The gold and the crystal cannot equal it, and the ex- 
change of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No men- 

155 



156 LITTLE MARY AT HER BIBLE LESSON. 

tion shall be made of coral or pearls ; for the price of this 
heavenly treasure is above rubies. 

' 'Tis handed down from parents fond 
To children's children dear — 
A loom, a trust, a heavenly bond. 
Commingling love and fear.'* 

Children trained from early infancy in the way they 
should go, in strict obedience to the holy precept, are sweet- 
tempered, mild, gentle, patient, meek, loving, lamb-like. God- 
fearing. They hate sin in every form, pride, folly, self-will, 
and wicked companions. They love the truth, the word of 
life, prayer and praise, the society of the blessed. 

' Plant blessings and blessings will bloom ; 
Plant hate and hate will grow ; 
You can sow to-day — to-morrow shall bring 
The blossom that proves what sort of a thing 
Is the seed — the seed that you sow.'* 

" Sow to the Spirit, you reap Hfe everlasting." " Sow to 
the flesh, you reap corruption." "Whatsoever a man 
soweth that shall he also reap." — Gd, vi. 7. 

Let those parents who excuse themselves by observing : 
" We cannot give grace to out' children," lay their hands on 
their heart and say whether they ever knew an instance 
where God withheld his grace while they were in humble 
subserviency to him, fulfilHng their duty. The real state 
of the case is tliis : parents cannot do God's work, and God 
will not do theirs ; but if they use the means, he will never 
withhold his blessing. 

Parent, watch o'er thy child, 
Keep back no goodly thing. 




Motlier giving Lessoiis from tlie Bees. 

** How dotli the little busy bee, 
Improve each shining hour ; 
And gather honey all the day, 
From every opening flower." 

We learn important lessons from the busy bee, and tlie 
ant. " Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, 
and be wise. Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 
provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food 
in the harvest." — Prov. yi. 6, 7, 8. 



" Live for something ; be not idle, 
Look about thee for employ ; 
Sit not down to useless dreaming, 
Labot is the sweetest joy." 



157 



THE BABY JESUS. 

*' Then lift your little hands in prayer ; 

The Saviour bids you come ; 
Safe in His bosom He will bear 

The lambs to His bright home 
Then lay your little hand in His ; 

He'll lead you gently on, 
Through trials of a world like this, 

To scenes of bliss beyond." 

How lovingly the dear Saviour — the Lamb of 
God — welcomes little children to His happy fold ! He 
numbers the lambs among His flock. " Suffer little 
children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
such is the kingdom of God." — Luke xviii. 16. When 
you hear the Saviour saying to you in the tenderest 
accents of His love, " Child, give me thy heart," will 
you not listen to His voice ? If you come to Jesus 
now, He will take you in His arms and bless you, and 
make you happy while you live, and, when you die, 
will take you to dwell with Him forever. 

** Dear Mary, Jesus loves you ; 

Once He left His home on high. 
Suffer' d on the cross to save you, 
Died that you might never die. 

Little Mary, Jesus loves you ; 

From His arms no longer stay ; 
He is waiting to receive you ; 

Mary, come without delay. 

Dear Mary, Jesus loves you ; 

And when life with you is o'er. 
To His heavenly home He'll take you, 

There to dwell forevermore. " 



LYING-MEDITATED, CALCULATED, PERPETUATED 1 



Lies succeeding lies, week in, ^v-^eek out. 

**He that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house : he that 
telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight." — Psalm ci. 7. *' Wherefore, 
putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor,"— 
Eph. iv. 25. 

Conversation between Mr. Timewell and Mr. Servility. 

(No. 10.) 

T. " AUow me, Mr. Servility, to call your attention to the 
' Serials,' or the continuation of fictions or falsehoods — 
stories and tales, tales and stories — continued week in, week 
out, in every paper, in every crevice, crack, and comer of the 
house. Stories fall from the pen faster than leaves of 
autumn, and of as many shades and colorings. Stories 
blow over here in whirlwinds from England. Stories are 
translated from the French, from the Danish, from the 
Swedish, from the German, from the Russian. There are 
serial stories for adults in ' The Atlantic,' in the ' Overland/ 
in the ' Galaxy,' in ' Harper's,' in ' Scribner's,' ' The N. Y. 
Daily Witness' — in Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and 
Congregational Weeklies and Monthlies. There are serial 
stories for youthful pilgrims in 'Our Young Folks,' the 
* Little Corporal,' the 'Riverside,' the 'Youth's Companion,' 
and very soon we anticipate newspapers with serial stories 
for the nursery. We shall have illustrated magazines, the 
Cradle, the Rocking-Chair, the First Rattle, and the First 

160 



LYIKG — MEDITATED, CALCULATED, PERPETUATED. 161 

Tooth, with successive chapters of ' Goosy, Goosy Gander, 
and ' Hickory, Dickory, Dock,' and ' Old Mother Hubbard,' 
extending through twelve, or twenty-four, or forty-eight 
numbers. 

"You perceive, Mr. Ser^^Hity, from the foregoing, that 
Satan and his active coadjutors are not content with telling 
a few hes now and then or occasionally, but they look for- 
ward, calculate on weeks, months and years of lying — devise 
means, turn and twist every way, like a serpent m the grass, 
for so doiQg. And these periodicals alluded to are only a 
few of the lying ones — mixed pubhcations, partly good, 
partly evil, partly Lord, partly devil, partly Christ, partly 
Behal — Satan's sugared pHls — tools of the Old Serpent to 
carry on his work of soul-destruction." 

S. "Tour friend, Talmage, observes, if I mistake not, 
* the more unscrupulous an editor is in conducting a peri- 
odical, the greater the likelihood of success !' " 

T. " He remarked, furthermore, that ' one of the pro- 
prietors of a great paper in this countiy gave his advice to 
a young man then about to start a paper : " If you want to 
succeed,' said he, "make your paper trashy — intensely 
trashy — make it all trash /" ' 

"Brilliant advice to a yoimg man just entering busi- 
ness !" 

S. " You opine, then, I take it, Mr. Timewell, that as a 
paper purifies itself, its circulation decreases, and sometimes 
when a paper becomes positively religious, it becomes bank- 
rupt — am I right ?" 

T. " You hit the nail exactly for once, Mr. Sei^ity — the 
Lord open your blind eyes still more. Individuals, male or 
female, nourished upon hes — tales of fiction — have very 
httle rehsh for Bible truth, the sweets of redeeming, sancti- 



162 LYING — MEDITATED, CALCULATED, PEEPETUATED. 

fying grace, the bread of heaven. When Satan is in, God 
is out ! 

" Let these popular works of fiction, that are flying over 
the face of the earth hke leaves in autumn, conceiving 
mischief and bringing forth iniquity, hatching cocatrices 
eggs, weaving the spider's webb — cease fehowshipping the 
unfruitful works of darkness — repudiate the devH and all 
his works — assume the prophetical and apostohcal — isike 
Jesus Christ and him crucified, come life, come death. 
What now ? Any shaking among the dry bones ? Where 
now the boastings of these panderers to a corrupt taste of 
their one hundred thousand subscribers ! Not one iu a 
thousand would hold on to these hnsey-woolsey, sickly sen- 
timentals. ' Wheresoever the carcas is, there will the eagles 
be gathered together.' 

" You see from this how awfully, fearfully, extensively the 
devil has done his deviHsh work in vitiating the pubhc taste 
in church and State — how and by whom ! What say you, 
Mr. Servility, any of this witchcraft laid at your door? 
Ask, if you please, those religious novel-writers and puffers 
in pulpits and in chairs editorial whom you endorse, what 
fingers they have had in this pie — ^how much stock they 
have taken in this fire and brimstone business ! How many 
once beloved, virtuously pure and lovely, they have led on to 
the burning pit instrumentally ! Moreover, ask your special 
friend in the Plymouth pulpit, what he says to pushing 
these cars of Satan ? Point him to what Solomon says — 
* Such is the way of an adulterous woman : she eateth, and 
wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.' — 
Frov. XXX. 20. 

" AU this and stUl more for the accursed lust of gain — 
the love of filthy lucre ! Talmage says, in the love and fear 



LYING — MEDITATED, CALCULATED, PERPETUATED. 163 

of his Master, * Where is the Church of God that she allows 
in her membership siich gigantic abominations ? Were the 
thirty pieces of silver that Judas received denounced as unfit, 
and shall the Church of God have nothing to say about this 
price of blood ? Is sin to be excused because it is as high 
as heaven, or deep as hell ? 

" ' If he who steals a dollar from a money-drawer is a 
thief, then he who hj dishonesty gets five hundred thousand 
dollars, is five hundred times more a thief. And so the last 
day will declare him.'* 

" ' As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them 
not : so he that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave 
them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a 
fool.' — Isa, xvii. 11. 

" ' Because ye have said. We have made a covenant with 
death, and with hell are we at agreement, when the over- 
flowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto 
us : for we have made hes our refuge, and under falsehood 
have we hid ourselves.' — Isa. xxviii. 15. 

" No one is any better than the paper he reads or the 
company he keeps." 

S. " What now ? Shut down the gate — stop pubhshing 
because the general acceptation is only for the hght and 
frivolous ?" 

T, " Stop sinning, stop telling hes, stop bowing the knee 
to Baal — stop poisoning body, soul and sphit ! 

" What do you tell the rum and tobacco trafficer — the 
man who sells the degrading, poisonous ' Indian weed ' — 



* A strong love to the world, and to the things of the world, may be called the 
basest and most sordid of passions. The minister, or even the man, in whom you 
discover it, you may safely mark down as one who loves neither God nor man. Neither 
devotion nor humanity can reside in the same breast with avarice. 



164 LYING — MEDITATED, CALCULATED, PERPETUATED. 

deals out the intoxicating cup, liquid death, and distilled 
damnation? What you say to this faithful servant of 
the devil, ' stop your awful wickedness,' so we say to you, 
'stop, stopF 'Your hands are full of blood!' 'If ye 
refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword, for 
the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.' — Isa, i. 20. 

" ' So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged 
by the law of Hberty. For he shall have judgment without 
mercy, that hath showed no mercy ; and mercy rejoiceth 
against judgment.' — James ii. 12, 13. 

" ' Eesist the devil and he will flee from you.' 
" ' Provide things honest in the sight of all men.' 
" ' Abstain from all appearance of evil.' " 
S, " Why expend all your ammuoition on sacerdotals — 
those clad in priestly vestments ? WTiy not draw your two- 
edged sword on outsiders — ^the openly obscene, hbidinous, 
who concoct and send forth leprosy, the froth and scum of 
the pit ?" 

T. " Mr. Servihty, my work is not now nor has it been in 
time past outside the camp, but inside — in the * King !' . 

" ' Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within 
the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean 
also.' — Math, xxiii. 26. 

" Purify a corrupt fountain, and the streams will be pure. 
My course has been hitherto and ever will be apostolical. 
I begin where God begins. ' Awake thou that sleepest, and 
arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee Hght !' 
The purport of Paul's whole hfe, by pen and word of 
mouth, after the scales fell from his eyes, was to purge out 
the old leaven, that the entire lump or body might be 
unleavened, pure, ' without spot, and blameless.' 

" For this Christ died, shed his precious blood, that ho 



LYING— MEDITATED, CALCULATED, PERPETUATED. 165 

might sanctify and cleanse the church — ' that he might pre- 
sent it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or 
wiinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and 
without blemish/ 

' " For what have I to do,' says Paul, ' to judge them also 
that are without ?— do not ye judge them that are within ? 
But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put 
away from among yourselves that wicked person.' — 1 Cor, 
V. 12, 13. 

" * Salt is good : but if the salt have lost his savor, where- 
with shall it be seasoned ? It is neither fit for the land, nor 
yet for the dunghill : but men cast it out. He that hath 
ears to hear, let him hear.' — Luke xiv. 34, 35. 

" We rejoice to see pohtical editors opening their eyes to 
this rascahty in high places and in low ! Very many of 
these speculators in froth and fiction and the souls of men, 
are not satisfied with destroying the very life of virtuous 
purity in adults, but are stretching every nerve to demoral- 
ize the httle folks-— the first buddings of immortahty ! Mr. 
Greeley, in the ' Tribune ' of March 15th, speaks thus : 
* While we are prosecuting the purveyors of obscene htera- 
ture for adults, may it not be worth while to look at the 
character of some of the popular periodicals for children ? 
In a recent number of " Frank Leslie's Boy's and Girl's 
Weekly " we find a story of such a gi^ossly improper ten- 
dency, that it is hard to understand how any respectable 
editor should have accepted it. . . . There is nothing to 
redeem this wretched story, for its style is unpardonable, 
and some of its suggestions are prurient.' " 










THE SHEPHERD AND HIS FLOCK. 

" How many sheep are straying, 

Lost from the Saviour's fold ! 
Upon the lonely mountains 

They shiver with the cold ; 
Within the tangled thickets, 

Where poison vines do creep. 
And over rocky ledges, 

Wander the poor lost sheep. 



who will go to find them ? 



"Oh! 

Who, for the Saviour's sake. 



Will search with tireless patience 
Through brier and through brake ? 




From -what book is tliis motlier teacliing Iier little ones 1 

A NOVEL — a book of fictions? or from the Bible, the 
book of hf e ? 

*' Bread of our souls ! whereon we feed ; 
True manna from on high !" 

How came little Timothy wise mito salvation ? Through 
the instrumentality of his pious mother, grandmother, and 
the Holy Scriptures, he became wise in heavenly things, 
even from his childhood — "through faith which is in 
Christ Jesus." 

Do we make the salvation of our children the first and 
supreme object ? A knowledge of the Bible is indispensable. 

*' 'Tis a mine of richest treasure, 
Laden with the purest ore ; 
And its contents, without measure, 
You can never well explore." 

Parents beloved, take this Book of books, open it in the 
presence of your httle ones, and let God speak and declare 

167 



168 FBOM WHAT BOOK IS THIS MOTHER TEACHING ? 

what he requires of both parents and children. God's 
authority is supreme, infinitely above all human authority 
or enactments. 

Would we train up the children aright, we must train 
them in accordance with the divine requirements. The 
man of our counsel must be the unerring Word of Truth. 
If we are Christ's, we shall seek to measure our conduct by 
His word, and equally anxious should we be to measure or 
to have measured the conduct of our children by His word. 
Whatever parents may require, or whatever they may for- 
bid, should be in conformity with the instructions given 
them by their great teacher — God. Let this be done, and 
let children see it, and feel it ; and then how infinitely 
more easy it will be to induce them to walk in the 
right way ! 

Here the authority is stamped with the broad seal of 
heaven, and is as much higher than that of parents merely 
as heaven is higher than earth, as the authority of the 
Infinite, the Uncreated, the Eternal, is higher than that of 
finite, created beings of yesterday. 

Among the first lessons taught children from the Bible, 
those relating to parental obedience seem especially to 
claim attention. When the fact that God requires children 
to obey their parents is well estabhshed in their minds, a 
very important object is gained. Will they not hsten with 
fearful attention, with fihal confidence, when told that God 
says, " Hearken unto thy father that has begotten thee, and 
despise not thy mother when she is old ;" " Children, obey 
your patents in the Lord, for this is right f " Honor thy 
father and mother (which is the first commandment with 
promise), that it may be well with thee, and that thou 
mayest live long on the earth ;" " Children, obey your 



FEOM WHAT BOOK IS THIS MOTHER TEACHING ? 169 

parents in all things ; for this is well pleasing iinto the 
Lord !" 

Then, when reminded that obeying their parents is not 
only right, but well pleasing unto the Lord — ^that with it 
is connected the promise of long life and well-being ! 

** Promises of life eternal, of a crown that never fades, 
Of a kingdom full of glory, which no sorrow e'er invades," 

And that disobedience is connected with fearful denunci- 
ations — ^when told these things, wiU they not feel that, with 
all the heart, they will seek to render cheerful and ready 
obedience ? 

Parents, if you do not begin with God, Christ, and the 
Gospel — Satan begins with his creed and his practice, the 
first article of which is Atheism. The child's mind is given 
to you to furnish, not to keep unfurnished, and you are 
boimd to furnish it with such principles and pictures of faith, 
such articles of truth from God, that by and by it can be 
trusted safely to make its own selection. You are bound to 
educate the habits, tastes, feelings, judgment of the opening 
mind aright, and you cannot do it in the neglect of God's 
word. 

" Our Blessed Lord laid down the grand rule of a child's 
education, when He said : ^ Suffer httle children to come 
unto me.' And there is no period so early in which they 
may not come ; but at that early period to which our Lord 
more particularly referred they must be brought, to come at 
all ; they must be carried in the arms of others' faith, borne 
by others' instructions, drawn from the word of God. If 
they come at aU, it is the Christ of the Scriptures to whom 
they must come, the Christ of that faith taught by the 
Scriptures, and not an imaginary Christ. And for this 



170 FEOM WHAT BOOK IS THIS MOTHER TEACHING ? 

especially the Bible is a child's book, because it is so full of 
Christ, and because its grand requisite of character is a 
childlike faith in Him ; a thing which, as it is taught only 
in the Scriptures, can be produced only by their instrumen- 
taUty. If you undertake to keep your child's mind empty, 
swept, and garnished, till an intelligent choice, the child's 
own will, shall arrange its rehgious furniture, you are cer- 
tainly retaining it for a habitation of the wicked one. But 
the child's mind is given to you to fill it with wheat, not 
with chaff. The way to exclude darkness from a room, is 
to fill it with hght. Occupy the mind with good things, 
and there wiU be no room for bad ones. The truth once 
estabhshed, possession is not only nine-tenths of the law, 
but error cannot get a foothold. 

** blessed Volume Divine, 
Let everlasting thanks be thine, 

For such a bright display- 
As makes the world of darkness shine 
With beams of heavenly day." 

Look at the influence on the mere education of a family. 
The Bible is the greatest of aU classics. There is more in it to 
form the mind, to fire the imagination, to fill the thoughts — 
nay, even to fashion the style and furnish the tongue with 
all the resources of strong and beautiful speech, than in any 
other book. 

** Great book of heaven ! I bind thee to my heart ; 

Treasure of truth, so varied, rich, and rare ! 
Let friends forsake, and cherished ones depart — 

Thy hopes still point me to that country fair, 
Where blight comes not, where change and death are o'er. 
And eyes that wept on earth shall weep no more !" 

'' Apples of Gold," 303 West Twentieth Street, New York. 




THE MOTHER'S DEATH-BED. 

" We watched her breathing through the night, 
Her breathing soft and low, 
And in her breast the wave of life 
Kept heaving to and fro. 

" So silently we seem'd to speak, 
So slowly moved about, 
As we had lent her half our powers 
To eke her beino- out. 

" Our very hopes belied our fears. 
Our fears our hopes belied, 
We thought her dying when she slept, 
And sleeping when she died. 

'* For when the morn came dim and sad. 
And chill with early showers, 
Her quiet eyelids closed — she had 
Another morn than ours." 



WHITE LYIN& TO PKEVENT BLACK LYIN&, 

— OB— 

The Writing White Lies to keep out Black Lies! 

*' Treasures of wickedness profit nothing : but righteousness 
delivereth from death. "—Pr'ov. x. 2. 

Conversation between Mr. Timewell and Mr. Servility. 

(No. 11.) 

S. " You remarked, Mr. Timewell, in a previous conversa- 
tion, that all sin originated from thought : can this idea be 
substantiated ?" 

T, " Think truly, and thy^ thoughts shall be a fruitful 
seed. Live truly, and thy life shall be a great and noble 
creed. *As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.' — Frov, 
xxiii. t. 

" Thoughts are words, words are deeds. Sin begins in 
the heart. If you keep your thoughts pure, your life will 
be blessedness and blameless. The indulgence of sinful 
thoughts and desires, produce smful actions. When lust 
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. The pleasurable con- 
templation of a sinful deed is usually followed by its com- 
mission. Never allow yourself to pause and consider the 
pleasures or profit you might derive from this or that sin. 
Close your mind against the suggestion at once, as you 
would lock and bolt your doors against a robber. If Eve 
had not stood parleying with the de\dl, and admiiing the 
beautiful fruit, the earth might have yet been a paradise. 
No one becomes a thief, a fornicator, a mui^derer at once, nor 

172 



WHITE LYING TO PREVENT BLACK LYING. 173 

a writer or publisher of lies, white or black, httle or big. 
The heart is first corrupted by wicked thoughts. Wicked 
suggestions from the father of hars are indulged, revolved 
in the thoughts until the sin of lying, or the love of filthy 
lucre loses its hideous deformity, and the anticipated gain 
or pleasure comes to outweigh the evils of the transgres- 
sion. 

" Your imagination paints forbidden pleasure in gay and 
dazzling colors. It is the serpent's charm. Gaze not upon 
the picture. Suffer not the intruder to get a lodgement. 
Meet the enemy at the threshhold and drive it from your 
heart. As a rule, the more familiar you become with sin, 
the least hateful it appears ; so that the more completely 
you preserve your mind from unholy and wicked thoughts, 
the better. 

** * Vice is a' monster of such frightful mien, 
That, to be hated, needs but to be seen ; 
But seen too oft, familiar with its face. 
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.' 

" Avoid evil associations and communications, the society 
of the obscene or unchaste, as you do the plague ! Reading 
an author is keeping company with that author. Reading 
the works of a lying author is more dangerous than con- 
versing with the same lying author face to face. A bad 
or lying book or periodical is more dangerous than a bad 
man or a bad woman. ' Touch not, taste not, handle not 
the unclean thing.' 

** < Just as the broadest rivers run 

From small and distant springs, 
The greatest crimes that men have done 
Have grown from little things. " 

"Cultivate the society of the virtuous. Read nothing 



174 WHITE LYING TO PREVENT BLACK LYING. 

that is uncliaste or immoraL Make a covenant with your 
eyes. Familiarize not your mind with the loathsome details 
of crime. Never harbor mahcious or enrious thoughts. 
Direct your thoughts towards pure and holy subjects. Con- 
template the character of the spotless and perfect Son of 
God. Keep your spirit untainted, your thoughts uncon- 
taminated, so shall jomt hie be ^di^tuous. Take care of the 
thoughts, and the actions ^vill take care of themselves. Lies 
are hes, whether spoken, written, put in type, bound or 
unboimd." 

S. " You spoke of a good Christian man sanctified 
wholly, who resolved to stop black lying, the pubhshing of 
obscene or perdition hterature, by issuing rehgious novels, 
or what you term white hes." 

T. " He told me the fact in the outset, and engaged some 
of the best pious gentlemen and lady novel ^Titers, that 
could write the prettiest, finest and most dehcate, genteel, 
rehgious hes, and on he went." 

/S. " What did you say to him ? 

T. " Sir," said I to him kindly, lovingly, " Satan could 
not desire better help ; these white hes or religious novels 
you send forth will surely lead to hes, black as jet !" 

S. " Did he take your word for it ?" 

T. "After serving the prince of darkness faithfully, in- 
defatigably some six or eight years, this ' bhnd leader of the 
blind' began to open one eye a httle, to see and know that 
he was kindhng sparks that were setting the whole world 
on fire — the fires that burned to the lowest hell ! One leak 
sinks a ship, one spark of fire sets a house, a whole city on 
fire ! Look at Chicago !" 

S. " Did he stop lying then, or quit his sending forth 
religious white hes ?" 



WHITE LYING TO PREYENT BLACK LYING. 175 

T. " Happy, thrice happy, had he committed his misera- 
ble sheets to the flames, and washed his hands clean from 
the filth. Instead of tliis, he sold his wretched white lying 
monthly to another Har of white hes less scrupulous, if pos- 
sible, about lying ; and now it is white and black, black and 
white lying, just as happens. If so be white lies bring in 
cash more plentifully, white lies take the lead — if black, 
black!" 

S. " Do not the 'American Ti^act Societies,' the 'N, Y. Daily 
Witness,' the ' Christian Union' the ' Christian World,' the 
' Heaiih and Home' the ' Female Guardian' the ' Guide to 
Holiness,' take nearly or quite the same views touching the 
writing, puffing, seUing and reading rehgious novels or 
white hes?" 

T. " By their fniits we know them, how else ? If a man, 
rehgious or otherwise, writes lies, puffs hes, keeps Hes for 
sale, tells the pubhc the veiy same, unblushingly, what now? 
Take it for granted the man is a har, notoriously, bare- 
facedly ? 

" The whole batch of rehgious montlihes and weeklies 
seem tared with the same brush. The editors of the Illus- 
trated Weekly,' at 150 Nassau St., tell us over and over their 
main pui^DOse is to do away, kill out entirely and forever the 
devil of devils, the hon devils, the obscene issues, the sink- 
holes of moral poUution, by introducing angehc devils, neat, 
beautiful, refined, soft, silky white hes, religious novels, 
splendidly illustrated. Thus setting the wheels of Satan's 
whole machinery in perpetual motion ! 

** * A little theft, a small deceit, 
Too often leads to more.' 

" What cares the father of hes for Tom Paine, Voltaii-e, 



176 WHITE LYING TO PKEVENT BLACK LYING. 

the lewd, licentious, shameless Bulwer, the Mysteries of 
Paris, and the whole brotherhood of infernals, so long as he 
has the American Tract Societies, Sunday School Unions, 
writers on moral purity, hohness, entire sanctification, re- 
Hgious weeMies and monthlies completely under his thumb ? 
saying, ' Go on, Mr. Clovenfoot, do youi' very best, we are 
at your service heartily, go on with your deyihshness, j)CO- 
pling the regions of death and damnation — all we possibly 
can do by way of white l}ing, rest assured sir, we do with 
our might. As to black Hes or hon de^dls, our minds are 
not fully made up, but as to rehgious novels, white Hes or 
angel devils, you have our hearty, cordial and entire ap- 
proval. These are popular, besides they ^deld a harvest, 
the ready cash ! ' Amen.' Here the confab ends, for a 
little space. 

" Then on top of all this helping Satan to do his worst, 
you see and hear these same Hars and pubhshers of hes, 
white and black, whining, whimpeiing and sniveling, shed- 
ding crockadile tears, over the ramparts of hell ! the bub- 
bhngs of the pit bottomless, the idolatiy in dress, pride, 
folly, fashion, theatrical and opera house, diabohsms, the 
land of whoredoms and prostitutions, the numerous elope- 
ments and suicides, the entitle smashdown of the marriage 
relation, domestic happiness, purity and love, and the per- 
petual rush to spirituahsms, fi^ee-loveisms, and all manner 
of de^olisms ! ' Such is the way of an adulterous woman ; 
she eateth and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done 
no wickedness.' — Fiw. xxx. 20. 

" ' Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is 
pleasant : But he knoweth not that the dead are there, 
and that her guests are in the depths of hell !' " — Frov. ix. 
17, 18. 



WHITE LYING TO PEEVENT BLACK LYING. 177 

S, " Ai'e there no misgivings in the breasts of these foot- 
balls of Satan, as you call them, Mr. Timewell ?' 

T. " ' Conscience !' a novel, writer, pubHsher, puffer and 
seller of white Hes, angelic devils ? have conscience ? When ? 
"Where ? These consciences you speak of have long since 
been coffined and laid in the grave ! Nothing so surely and 
speedily hardens the heart and sears the conscience as lying, 
writing, reading and puffing hes. Our whole nation, through 
this medium, has become a nation of hars. We talk about 
Tammany lying, defrauding, stealing and robbing; but what 
are all these liars, thieves and cut-throats, put into one bag 
and shaken together, compared to what is going on all over 
the land, in church and State, through the instrumentahty 
of these writers, puffers and sellers of rehgious novels, white 
lies, devils transformed, mixed publications, sugared pills, 
the bitter and the sweet intermingled, a httle of Christ and 
a good deal of Behal !* 

" This Tammany deviltry, bad as it is, devihsh as it is, 
issuing from the pit bottomless as it does, is a mere drop to 
the ocean, speaking comparatively." 



* " Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung 
of your solemn feasts, and one shall take you away with it. For the priest's lips should 
keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth : for lie is the messenger 
of the LORD of hosts. But ye are departed out of the way : ye have caused many 
to stumble at the law : ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of 
hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, 
according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law." — A/a/. 
ii. 3-9- 



Address.... Author of ''THE SWORD THAT CUTS," 

303 West Twentietn St., New York. 







GIVING ALMS? WHAT ELSE CAN IT BE ? 

BEAUTIFUL ? WHAT MORE ? 

This little sfirl has, doubtless, been early tauojht " to re- 
niember the poor," " rejoice with theni that do rejoice, and 
weep with them that weep ;" " that it is mor^ blessed to 
give than to receive." " Blessed is he that considereth the 
poor." 

" Give, and it slmll be given unto you : good measure, 
pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall 
men give into your bosom. For with the same measure 
that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again." 



GIVING ALMS? 



" Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, 
when it iS in the power of thy hand to do it." Prov, iii. 27. 



" 'Twas the widow's mite which call'd 
Blessings from the Lord ; 
Not the lavish treasures thrown 
From the rich man's hoard." 



Little folks, are you on the giving oi der ? First of all, 
liave you given all to Jesus, presented your bodies living 
sacrifices to God, which is your reasonable service ? 

It is only by commencing early in life the consecration 
of ourselves, our substance to God, that we can establish 
the habit of benevolence. While we postpone the dis- 
charge of our duty until we have become wealthy, the love 
of gain is insensibly acquiring strength, we listen to the 
claims of benevolence with less and less sensibility, and at 
last become deaf to the voice of humanity. When we are 
able to give without the smallest self-denial, the disposition 
to give has perished, and we have been transformed into 
the very misers whom once we thoroughly despised. 



CHARITY. 

" While thou hast a heart to feel 
Sympathy and love, 
And thy voice can lift a prayer 
To the Lord above : 

" Say not thou hast nought to give — 
Nought to call thine own : 
Life's best pleasures do not spring 
From one source alone," 



SATANIC TRANSFORMATIONS, 



-OE — 



What the devil is doing through the agency of the professed 
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, 



Testimony of H. C. Dana., Ksq.— (Xo. 1.) 



In a recent lectm^e of his, he says : " It is a sad sight to 
examine the display of sin, crime and moral corruption that 
is made in every news depot throughout the land. Childi^en 
are made familiar with sin and crime before they even know 
what they mean. We are blind, and unless w^e get our eyes 
open soon we shall become sadly dead to shame. Marriage 
has been stripped of its sanctity, and above it has been 
raised the horrible temple of divorce. This great evil, this 
moral vampire, has sucked the life-blood of marriage, and 
left it under dark clouds, and it is fast sinking in its death- 
throes.* Men and w^omen unite under its most sacred 
bonds with the thoughtlessness of trade. Divorce will cui'e 
all mistakes, they say, and so rush bhndly along towards 
sin, crime and ruin. Those are some of the causes, and the 
Christian world has a mighty responsibility resting upon it, 
that it sees that those causes are corrected and removed." 



Testimony No. fi. 



In a recent number of the Sunday School Times, H. S. 
Osbom, LL. D., remarks : " We are hving in peculiarly 
dangerous times from the reading which is now brought out. 

* Alluding to fictitious publications. 

180 



SATANIC TRANSFORMATIONS. 181 

At no former time in the history of our country has hght 
reading been so much in demand as at the present day. All 
classes of persons — learned and ignorant — professional men, 
business men — educated ladies as well as the nurse and 
help, the cook and the chambermaid, demand hght reading 
— tales, stories, novels, or something 'exciting/ I have 
heard it asserted that more works of this character have 
been sold in the past two years, than had been sold during 
the preceding sixty years !" 



Testimony No. 3. 

The godly bishop Littlejohn, an Episcopahan, has thrilled 
the public with his lectures on the evils of religious or sen- 
timental fiction.* "We have space for a single item only 
from his gifted pen : 

" Our time is remarkable for the development of a new 
type of the human family, viz : the ' strong-minded woman.' 
A restless, busy, fragmatical thing is this modern Amazon, 
who divests herself of all those soft, sweet attributes that 
were wont to be considered the adornments of womanhood, 
that she might be the better prepared to engage in scenes 
of strife and turmoil more dear to her than an honest hus- 
band in his home. Our modern heroine of fiction is a 
slave to vanity, pleasure, ease and fashion. This lotus-eater 
of fiction is a frail reed that breaks in the day of need, and 
pierces the heart that leans on it for support. 



* The reader perceives that in nearly every instance, these testimonials allude, not to 
the putrid or leprous publications, but to religious novels, sentimental fiction, (inlets or 
entering wedges to the rottenest of the rotten, the very scum and bubblings of the pit of 
hell !) written, sold and puffed by those whose garments ought to be unspotted, and 
whose characters ought to be above suspicion. 



182 SATANIC TRANSFOKMATIONS. 

"The sentimental fiction defends itself by the shallow 
argument that it aims at making vice odious and virtue 
attractive. It professes the philosophy of Barnum, as put 
forth in his autobiography, where he says that the age 
insists on vast sensations and stupendous humbugs, and 
adopts his pohcy. Virtue needs no such auxiharies as the 
reeking fumes of the bar-room or the pestiferous atmosphere 
of a gambhng-hell to make her attractive. The writers and 
pubHshers of such stuff are the enemies of pubHc peace and 
morals, and the sacred ties of society and the purity of home 
plead against them." 



Testimony of tlie Rev. T. De Witt Talmage. — (No. 4.) 



" Many papers that are most rapidly increasing to-day 
are unscrupulous. The facts are momentous and appalling. 
And I put young men and women and Christian parents 
on the look-out. This stuff cannot be handled without 
pollution. 

" The only question is : ' Will it pay ?' And there are 
scores of men who, day by day, bring into the newspaper 
offices manuscripts for pubhcation which unite all that is 
pernicious ; and, before the ink is fairly dry, tens of thou- 
sands are devouring with avidity the impure issue. 

" O ye reckless souls ! get money — though morahty dies, 
and society is dishonored, and God defied, and the doom 
of the destroyed opens before you — get money ! Though 
the melted gold be poured upon your naked, bhstering, and 
consuming soul — get money ! Get money ! It will do you 
good when it begins to eat like a canker ! It will solace the 
pillow of death, and soothe the pangs of an agonized 
eternity ! Though in the game thou dost stake thy soul, 
and lose it forever — ^get money !" 



SATANIC TRANSFORMATIONS. 183 

Testimony of Dr. W. H. — (No. 5.) 



Vandoren, of Chicago, a minister of the gospel, on religious 
novels or white lying in families and Sunday schools, pushed 
into favorable notice by ministers and religious publishers, 
says : — " Ours is verily a fast age. One writer drama- 
tizes the Saviour's life in the ' House of David.' Another 
ventures to endorse and describe heaven in * Gates Ajar. 
Others, under the splendid drapery of romance, inculcate 
the doctrines of repentance, faith, new birth, etc. 

" The question arises, why are these works of fiction 
tolerated ? Why are responsible pubhshers and Christian 
associations found to print them ? But above all, why are 
parents and pastors found to permit them on their tables or 
to their Sunday-school hbraries? "We can easily answer 
why the youth love to read them. Is it for the infinitessi- 
mal amount of rehgious element contained in them ? We 
answer. No. The fascination of the multiform pious novels 
that now swarm into our Sunday-school Hbraries, is anything 
and everything but their rehgious instruction. 

"It were a thousandth-fold better if nine out of ten 
Sunday-school Hbraries were taken from their shelves and 
committed to the flames. 

" Five distinguished elders of the city of New York, told 
the writer, with tears, ' We are compeUed to keep our chil- 
dren out of Sunday-school altogether, because of the swarms 
of pious novels which infests the shelves.' 

" These pious novels may not only advocate any one bad 
practice or evil principle ; but as punches and various 
drugged wine lead directly to fomi a taste for alcohol, so 
these books lead to novels. The fact that some professors 
of Christianity and so-caHed ministers wiite them, is no more 



184 SATANIC TRANSFORMATION. 

an argument for tlieii' being harmless than our reverend 
forefathers' use of brandy made it a safe precedent for their 
childi'en. It is a weU-knoTni fact that those bearing the 
office of ministers have proved among the bitterest curses 
with which oui' race has ever been visited." 

[Is not this emphatically true of the author of "Nor- 
wood?"— Ed.] 

'^ Novels, rehgious and seculai', cause not only an immense 
saciifice of mental power and of moral energy, but also of 
precious time. How many houi^s, days, and weeks ai^e thus 
worse than mui'dered bv the vouths of both sexes in our 
land ! Some children biing these miserable pious novels to 
chm^h, and under the very sound of the Gospel, Sinai's 
thundeiing and Calvaiy's calls of mercy, pore over their 
exciting pages. 

" We have known parents to neglect their offspiing to 
gloat theii* imaginations over the scenes of passion ghtteiing 
thi'ough the pages of novels. 

" What is time ? Ask death-beds ; the queen of England, 
who cried in her exphing moments, * miUions ! millions ! 
for an inch of time !' 

" ' I asked a spirit lost — ^but, oh ! the shriek 

That pierced my soul ! I shudder while I speak ! 
It cried — " A particle ! a speck ! a mite 
Of endless years, duration infinite !" ' 

" The morbid deshe for novelty destroys that sobriety of 
mind inculcated by the Holy Ghost upon the youth to be 
* sober-minded.' 

'' The wine to an invahd imparts an unnatural glow. 
Young minds, depraved in all their energies, soon reach an 
abnormal state. They have a glow, not of health, but of 
the heclic. 



SATANIC TRANSFORMATIONS. 185 

" Novels are no proper food for an immortal soul. What 
would have been thought if young Samuel or Timothy had 
spent their days and nights sighing over fables — ^false scenes 
of sorrow, fictitious scenes of heroism, and falsehood every- 
where ? "What a sad preparation for secret prayer is the 
flush of emotion and passion kindled in sensitive minds! 
We repeat, who can answer for the precious moments, hours 
and days worse than wasted, over these pious romances ! 

(< < Time is eternity ; 
Pregnant with all eternity can give ; 
Who murders time, he crushes in the birth 
A power ethereal, only not adored.* 

" These rehgious romances lead our youth to the broad, 
gilded, flowery paths of modem novels. A novel is a 
theatre in the mind! All the gorgeous curtains, actors, 
actresses, enchantry, fascinating the depraved heart, kind- 
ling all its passions, fast prepare the road to the theatre.* 

It makes one sick at heart to think of pleasure's siren 
voice, and the promises given of joyous days and years to 

come. 

** * Alas ! the dead are in her house, 
Her guests in depths of hell ; 
She weaves the winding-sheet of souls 
And lays them in the urn of everlasting death. * " 

We might fill volumes of similar testimonials did our 
space permit. 

* How true is this of Beecher and Dickens, 



303 TVest Twentietli Street, New Yorlc. 



TE7TH AND LYING. 



Testimony of Elder H. Bucltley, 

** Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his 
neighbor." — EphAv. 25. 

" When a child I believed everything which was printed to 
be true, and when at length I learned the contrary, I was 
shocked and felt indignant. Until within a few years I sup- 
posed all Sunday-school books to be truthful, and I was 
greatly shocked and grieved on learning that a large portion 
of them were fictions. I very much fear that the professed 
servants of the Lord are now sowing seed in Sunday-school 
publications which will result in a very fruitful harvest for 
Satan. 

" No matter how good the story, or correct the principles 
illustrated, if the facts are wanting, or if they are colored, 
ihe lawyer, lectiurer, teacher or preacher thus illustrating his 
subject, is guilty of falsehood, and would be called a har if 
exposed. 

" Is it not sinful to fabricate stories or tales for children ? 
Or to mix fact with fiction for the purpose of interesting 
them ? Does not the youthful mind feel disgusted when 
informed that the highly interesting book is the offspring 
of somebody's imagination ? Or, if not disgusted, does he 
not conclude that he may make a good story when it serves 
his purpose ? Again, does not all fiction lose its interest 
when the mind does not appropriate it as truth — except it 
be with such as * love a he ?' I apprehend that no work 
of fiction is read with interest unless it makes an impression 

186 



TRUTH AND LYING. 187 

of reality. Nearly, if not all, such works give a false color- 
ing to real life. And such rehgious works virtually admit 
that truth in its sinful, native dress, is not sufficiently 
attractive. I am convinced that all such works, instead of 
making truth more attractive, so far as their influence goes, 
renders it less so. The Bible, the blessed Bible — that great 
fountain of truth — becomes dry to readers of fiction, and 
so does anything not highly sensational. IMrs. Hamet 
Beecher Stowe, I fear, with many others, are using their 
noble, God-given powers in the wrong direction." 

Our beloved brother Buckley is not alone in fearing the 
sad downfall of this woman. Multitudes weep over her 
departure from gospel purity. Once she warmly advocated 
cntii'e consecration to God's service. Where now? Alas, 
clasx3ing hands with the prince of darkness ! — contending 
earnestly for worldly pleasures, biUiard-tables, nine-pin 
alleys — stages for getting up tableaux, dramatic perform- 
ances, and other games of chance — utensils of Satan, leading 
to gambling dens and gambling hells ! 

These carnal implements of the evil one ai^e commended 
to the church of Christ in preference to Sunday-schools ! * 

Did she ever dream of putting her hands to this iniquity, 
outstanding and heaven-daring, till she fell into the trap of 
Satan, viz., the reading novels and writing novels ? 

" Behold how great a matter a Httle fire kindleth !" 

"We see what Satan is doing through the medium of 
rehgious novels — or white-lying — how Christ is wounded in 
the house of his friends. One he prepares the way for another 
— one spark from the pit kindles other sparks — one httle 
fire kindles other fii'es, till the whole world is in a blaze. 

* We quote from public records, but the half is not told. 



SACRED MUSIC IN PUBLIC WORSHIP. 



•* Oh ! reform it altogether !" 

Those who are in the habit of attending the more popular 
and fashionable churches are aware of the fact that nearly 
all the singing is done by some half dozen voices in the 
organ gallery, while others are silent. Surely, this is not 
fulfilling the purpose of sacred music, as a part of pubhc 
worship. 

Objections to tlie Clioir System. 

1. Choir singing, as now practiced in our churches, is 
nnauthorized ; the inspired penman gives us no examples on 
record in the New Testament. 

2. The most consistently and devotedly pious are grieved 
at this departure from gospel purity and simpHcity. 

3. Choir worship, as a general thing, is not spiritual 
worship — ^how can it be, when those composing them are 
not spiritual worshippers — but gay, thoughtless, worldly, 
fashionable ! Is it meet to take the children's bread and 
cast it to dogs ? See Math. xxv. 26. 

Can the wicked sing — make melody in their hearts to 

the Lord? 

** Let those refuse to sing 

Who never knew our God ; 
But children of the heavenly King 
May speak their joys abroad." 

The artistic performance of a beautiful piece of music will 
produce feeling — ^is it therefore devotional feeling — the 

188 



SACKED MUSIC IN PUBLIC WORSHIP. 189 

music or melody in the heart? The opera of a French 
troupe will excite feehng — ^but is this feeling a devotional 
feeling? "Be not deceived, God is not mocked." "My 
son, give me thy heart." " That which is highly esteemed 
among men, is abomination in the sight of God." 

Hark ! hear the voice of the Holy One : " Offer unto God 
thanksgiving, and pay thy vows to the Most High. But to 
the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my 
statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy 
mouth ; seeing that thou hatest instruction, and castest my 
words behind thee." — Psa. 1. 16. 

4. Choir singing deprives God's people and the audience 
of one of the most interesting, profitable, joyful, soul-kindling, 
soul-reviving exercises of God's house. Go into any church 
where the whole congregation join in singing God's praises, 
making melody in their hearts to the Lord, and who can 
doubt the desirableness of congregational singing ? Except 
an entire congregation on their knees in prayer, we know 
not of a more beautiful sight than is presented when all the 
people rise to sing. Instead of gazing coldly and with a 
critic's eye at a choir, as at a company of musicians perform- 
ing for their especial amusement, (for as far as the music is 
concerned, many churches are httle better than divine opera 
houses), to mark whose voice excels, and how the parts are 
maintained : proud of their professional skill they exert 
their powers to please a fastidious audience ! 

How different this from mingling harmonious voices with 
grace in the heart — each with a book, intently earnest to do 
his part in singing the high praises of God ! The sweet 
voices of childhood are mingled with those of riper years, 
aU blending in one grand choral harmony ; giving us a 
blessed foretaste of that praise which will be rendered to 



190 SACKED MUSIC IH PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

God, wlien dl voices, and not a select few, shall join ai'ound 
the thi'one, in singing the song " of Moses and the Lamb." 

" Oh ! could I hear those good old songs — 

The songs my mother sung, 
As round the fire her lov'd ones sat, 

In days when I was young. 
Bat ah ! those songs are out of date ! 

I ne'er may hear them more." 

5. The indistinctness of enunciation of many choirs renders 
it utterly impossible for those of the congregation who 
would otherwise imite, to do so ! Why not as soon speak 
in an unknown tongue ? " Things without life, giving sound, 
whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction m the 
sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped ?" 
Very often not a word or a syllable can be traced or under- 
stood ; and this is especially the case when a large organ 
and other instruments of music are ringing in our ears.* 

6. Levity in choirs is a prevailing evil, a matter of com- 
mon notoriety and complaint. This besetting sin is a dis- 
grace to the house of God and his holy worship. So great 
and glaring is this evil of levity and light-mindedness in 
choirs, that many pious persons have declined uniting with 
them : knowing they could not do so without great annoy- 
ance and spiritual loss. Others have left the choir to avoid 
backshding. 



* Reader, would you be thoroughly convinced that the introduction of instrumental 
music in public worship is evil and only evil ? We refer you to a recent work of Rev. 
R. Johnson, of 8o pages, price 25 cents. Address Author of " Apples of Gold,'* 
303 West Twentieth-street, New York. 

We quote a single sentence of the author : — " Believing that any attempt to praise 
the Infinitely Holy One by the noise of sundry kinds of machinery in public worship is 
an unscriptural innovation, displeasing to God and unprofitable to man, I count it my 
duty to lift up my voice against it." 



SACRED MUSIC IN PUBLIC WORSHIP. 191 

Will this levity, trifling, and solemn mockery in God's 
house ever cease, 'till a system of congregational singing is 
adopted ? 

7. Whence the apples of discord and disunion ? the roots 
of bitterness springing up in the churches of God, by which 
many are troubled and many defiled ? In nine cases out of 
ten, originate they not from the choir ? God has spoken 
once, twice, three times, " beware of this unhaUowed leaven !" 
" Be sure your sin wiU find you out." 

Mark the testimony of the Rev. A. S. Eobertson, who has 
traveled and preached for many years, and whose praise is 
in all the churches. After long experience and careful 
observation, what is the final conclusion? Touching the 
choir system he speaks thus : 

" We shall never find language to utter one-half of our 
astonishment at the tame submission of so many pious 
minds, imder the ruinous and evil workings of the choir 
system in our churches iu the cities, and elsewhere. Never 
was so great an evil tolerated in Zion, sustained at so great 
a cost, and resulting in so Uttle good. The mind can grasp 
no other thing in the church more prolific of unsought mis- 
chief! Envy, evil speaking, pride, ostentation, vanity, 
ambition, division, are almost invariably the result of choii's, 
sooner or later. Not unfrequently the leaven spreads hke 
wild-fire through the congregation, and involves the minister 
and aU the members in the difficulty. Nor is it strange 
that such should be the result, when we call to mind the 
class of persons of whom choirs are usually composed. 
Three words teU aU — young, thoughtless, irreligious. But 
why, in view of so powerfully distracting results, is it still 
sustained ? Is it because the goddess of fashion must bo 
worshiped at all hazards ?" 



19^ SACBED MUSIC IN PUBLIC WOBSHIP. 

8. We object to choirs and instrumental music in the 
house of God, for the very important reason that, in our 
opinion, Christian union or primitiye Christianity will never 
be fully restored so long as they are continued in use. They 
are clogs to the wheels of salvation ! 

9. They retard growth in grace, hinder revivals, the con- 
viction and conversion of sinners. 

Spiritual singing, or singing with grace in the heart, 
making melody to the Lord, is not only soul-cheering and 
soul-elevating to the Christian, but very often sends con- 
viction to the heart of the sinner. Many a rebel against 
God has dated his first serious, abiding impressions from 
the heavenly praises flowing from sanctified hearts. Did 
choir music ever produce these happy and glorious results ? 

10. Choir singing tends to backsliding and cold formality. 
How can it be otherwise when Christians disobey God — 
refuse to open their mouths in praise ! 

" Whoso offereth praise, glorifieth me." — Psa. 1. 23. 

11. Choir singing in the house of God tends to banish 
singing in family worship. Does one family in ten ever 
think of tuning the heart in praise around the family altar ? 
Why not ? No singing of God's praise in the sanctuary, of 
course none in family devotions. 

12. No Christian who fails to sing praises to God as an 
act of Christian worship, comphes with GoWs command. 
The command of God to sing praises to him is equally 
positive with that in respect to prayer or suppHcation. 

*' Sing unto the Lord, all ye lands," " sing praises, sing 
unto him, sing psalms unto him." " Sing unto the Lord a 
new song, and his praise in the congregation of the saints." 
" Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." 

13. Have we any more right to sing hy proxy, (by the 



SACRED MUSIC IN PUBLIC WORSHIP. 193 

mouth of sinners,) than to pray by proxy! Why not 
employ some one of fluent speech, to do our praying — ^while 
we look on and gaze with wonder at the marvelous gifts ! 
Will our souls be benefited ? Is God weU pleased ? 

How was singing attended to in the apostohcal churches ? 
Did Christians then sing by proxy ? When the hymn of 
praise was sung, who were the choir ? Knew they of prais- 
ing God by proxy ? No, no, indeed — themselves sang " with 
grace, making melody in their hearts unto the Lord." The 
choir were they — ^they each, they all — and like the church 
in heaven, the church on earth herself did sing, in strains so 
sweet and fervent, the praises of the Lamb. In every act 
of worship " they served the Lord " themselves. None 
asked to be excused, nor thought of delegation or proxy, 
but themselves prayed and praised, and that with fervency 
of spirit. 

Such were the churches then. Are such the churches 
now? 

Would the apostles, first preachers, and first Christians 
feel at home in the churches now ? Would they admire the 
change that has come over them ? Would they pronounce 
them improvements ? We think not — ^but would be moved 
to tears at the sight of our silent, close- hpped professors, 
and our proxy worshipers, together with the cold, lifeless 
formahsm which pervades the churches ; and would exhort 
them to an immediate return to the spiritual simpHcity and 
fervency of first Christians and first Christian churches. 

No one need wonder that the churches grew and multi- 
phed, under such preaching, and amid such living, practical 
Christianity as that which distinguished and was the glory 
of the first Christian churches. Nor need wonder exist that 
things now are as they are in the churches, when so much 



194: SACRED MUSIC IN PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

that is vital in itseK, and life-inspiring, is found to be 
wanting. 

That there should be a leader and leaders in pubhe acts 
of prayer and praise, who can condemn ? But proxyism in 
either, who would not ? Do they in heaven by proxy wor- 
ship? Did Christ by proxy die? Or does he now in 
heaven by proxy pray for us ? Till this primitive, this per- 
sonal,* this individual fervency of spirit in the worship and 
service of the Lord shall again distinguish the pulpits and 
the pews, the pastors and the churches, " Ichabod " shall 
stand written upon them in characters of DEATH ! 

Churches of Jesus Christ ! come back ; come back to first 
principles — first practices — " your first love /" " Kemember 
how you [then] heard and received, and hold fast, and 
repent." Then you served the Lord — served him in fer- 
vency of spirit. Then you prayed, you sang his sounding 
praise, not by proxy, but you yourselves ; and served, and 
sang, and prayed with a ^'fervent spirit r Do again your 
" first works." Ketum to your first love, first simpHcifcy, first 
humility, honesty, zeal and fervency in the service of God ; 
and he, the Lord, wiU return and dwell among you, and 
bless you, and make you a blessing to untold multitudes ! 

Away, away with show and parade — with cold, stiff forms 
and formahsm, in the service of God ! Such were not to be 
found in the church in her first and best days, and such 
must disappear, before she be terrible to her enemies 
" as an army with banners." 

Li the day of conflict, what combatants think of the polish — • 
but of the strength and keen edge of his sword ? These, not 
the polish, do the work required — gain for him the victory. 

* " If singing come not from the heart," says Calvin, " it is worth nothing, and can 
only awaken God's wrath." 




CHARLEY RIDING OUT. 

What a noble animal the horse ! Treat him kindly and 
gently, and he will treat you kindly and gently. See the 
sister of Charley placing her hand on this beautiful pony. 



NURSIKG LITTLE FOLKS FOR THE LORD. 

TRAINING THEM " IN THE WAY THEY SHOULD GO." 

blessed woman ! 

" There, 'mid the sunshine and the flowers, 
No longer mayst thou lightly stray ; 
The great trust of thy womanhood 
Is laid upon thy soul to-day." 

When God lays a new-born babe in the arras of a wedded 
pair, he says to them, " Take this child and nurse it for me, 
and I will give thee thy wages." God offers the only 
wages that can satisfy the claims of love. He pays the 
heart's claim in the heart's own coin. What wages could 
repay Hannah's prayerful care like the sight of Samuel's 
after-career as Israel's upright judge? Moses standing on 
the mount was the " wages" of the Hebrew mother who 



NURSING LITTLE FOLKS FOR THE LORD. 

cradled him in her basket of rushes. St. Auo-ustme's 
mighty service for the gospel was the best reward that 
Grod could give to Monica. John Wesley's mother was 
repaid for all her patient discipline. George Washington 
was God's reward to Washington's good mother ; as Arch- 
ibald Alexander and Brown of Haddington were to theirs. 

The " wages of sin is death," and of no sin more surely 
than parental. It is death to peace of mind ; death to do- 
mestic happiness ; death to the neglected or misguided 
souls of their offspring. 

" Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee 
thy wages," is the inscription which God's hand writes on 
every cradle. " When I dressed my child each morning, I 
prayed that Jesus would clothe it with purity," said a 
godly mother to one who inquired her secret of good train- 
ing. " When I wash it, I pray that his blood will cleanse 
its young soul from evil ; when I feed it, I pray that its 
heart may be nourished with truth, and may grow into 
likeness with the youthful Jesus of Xazareth." Here was 
relio'ious training: from the cradle. It beg^an with the 
dawn, and its course was like the sun, growing more full- 
orbed in beauty until the " perfect day." That mother 
received her golden wages in the early conversion, useful- 
ness, and honor of all her children. " Go thou and dc 
likewise." 

" Lo, when our loving Saviour comes, 
And death yields up its prey, 
We'll meet those darling little ones 
In realms of endless day." 



" The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and 
the knowledge of the holy is understanding." Prov, ix. 10. 




iiiiiimjiiiiiiii^iiiiiiiiHiiiin!^ ^ 

MOULDING THE LITTLE FOLKS GOSPELLY. 

Look, young readers, aint this beautiful? Here's an 
angel mother onoulding her little ones in the gosi^el onould, 
J^lessed woman ! 

Seest thou a family of obedient children, sweet-tempered, 
orderly, kind, affectionate, active, industrious, " olive-plants 
around the table," lamb-like, the heau ideal of loveliness, 
the model of perfection ? How came they so ? Through 
whose moulding? The mother's? Yes; the angelic 
mother. She wrought the fine needlework of gold, reaivd 
the tender thought, implanted the seeds of modest sim- 
plicity and purity, and watered them with her prayers as 
the dews of heaven. 



SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK-AND EISINe UP TO PLAY. 



** The love of pleasure and of gold, 
On some professors have such hold, 
They oft forget then* names. " 

Dialogue between ]\Irs. Fickle and Mr. Lovegood. 

L. " Good morning, Mrs. Fickle, walk in, hope you are 
well, please take a seat." 

F. " Thank you, Mr. Lovegood, IVe come expressly to 
in\dte you, your dear wife and family to our ' Sociable.' It 
will be splendid ! It's been weeks and weeks in prepara- 
tion. The whole community is in a perfect blaze of excite- 
ment, little and big !" 

L. " ^Miere is it to be held, Mrs. Fickle f 

F. " In the basement of our church, and if that should 
be too smaU, a large pubHc haU will be pro^dded." 

L. " Will it be similar to the ' Sociable' aUuded to by 
David when he said : ' Come and hear all ye that fear God, 
and I will declare what he hath done for my soul?' Or hke 
the one of which the prophet Malachi, speaks in chapter 
iii. verses 16 and H ? 

" ' Then they that feared the LOED, spake often one to 
another, and the LORD hearkened and heard it, and a book 
of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared 
the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall 
be mine, saith the LOED of hosts, in that day when I make 
up my jewels, and I wiU spare them as a man spareth his 

199 



200 SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DKINK. 

own son that serveth him.' Or, will it be copied after the 
one in the 2d chapter of Acts ? 

" It must have been a very sociable time, blessedly so, in 
that upper room at Jerusalem, where the 120 disciples were 
assembled for prayer and praise, day in and day out, for ten 
days. And still more sociable it must have been on Penta- 
costal day, when the spirit was poured out, and tongues of 
fire sat upon each of them. ' And they were all filled with 
the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as 
the Spirit gave them utterance.' — Acts ii. 4. 

" These disciples thus, very soon became famiharly and 
intimately acquainted with each other. Not only so, but 
they must have been happy, joyous, soul-kindHngly. 

" * And they, continmng daily with one accord in the 
temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat 
their meat with gladness and singleness of heart ; praising 
God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord 
added to the church daily such as should be saved.' — Acts 
ii. 46, 4t. 

** *Bless'd be the tie that binds 
Our hearts in Christian love ; 
The fellowship of kindred minds, 
Is like to that above.' 

"I know of no better or surer way to promote sociability, 
friendship, love, and Christian union. Nothing binds God's 
people so closely and firmly in the bonds of affection and 
love, as the baptism of the Holy Spirit— the tongue of fire. 
This spirit, too, will banish all trifling, levity, fooHsh talking, 
and jesting so common at many of these social parties or 
festivals. 

" It will also heal all divisions, backsHdings, heartburn- 
ings, roots of bitterness, all envyings and evil speakings. 



SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, 201 

Besides it will qualify for active service, spiritual labor, holy 
zeal, self-sacrifice in the cause of God, in the salvation of 
souls. 

"Is the sociable you have in view similar to the sociabili- 
ties I have alluded to ? If so, I would like to be present. 

** ''Tis not high power that makes a place divine, 
But sacred thoughts in holy bosoms stored.' " 

F, " Not exactly hke these you speak of, but — " 

L, " Stop, if you please, allow me to enquire the special 
object of your meeting or ' Sociable ?' " 

F. " It's to raise money for our pastor, first of aU : he has 
a growing family, and his salary does not more than haK 
meet his current expenses. Then, if there be an overplus 
resulting from our sales, it will go to cushion the pulpit. 
The carpet, moreover, on our church floor begins to look 
shabby, and our Sunday School hbrary needs replenishing ! 
You see the objects of our gathering are purely benevolent." 

L, " If your minister's salary is too httle, why not make 
it larger at once by laying aside on the first day of the week 
as God prospers you, and not set the world on fire with 
yoin* fancy fairs, sprees and church gambling? If the church 
gamble, set Satan's ball in motion, what else expect of the 
world, sons of Behal ? It's neither honest nor benevolent 
to obtain funds for God's cause by such means, when per- 
sons can just as well give directly for such purposes as the 
word of God directs. 

" Is money to be raised for church debts, church building 
or repairing ? A Sabbath-school or missionary enterpiise ? 
For the increase of the minister's salaiy ? To reheve the 
poor or for any benevolent operation ? AMiat now ? How 
is this money to be forthcoming ? In a sober, rational Gos- 



202 SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK. 

pel way ? Nay, a feast is prepared ; a soii^ee introduced, a 
fancy fail', a pic-nic, a concei-t or exhibition of some kind, 
a donation, tea or strawben-y pai-ty, a sleigh-ride, oyster- 
supper, a tin or gold wedding, something to inflame the 
appetite, produce a httle fiui, or vulg'ar meniment. 

" "\Miere is there a chui'ch or society, white or colored. 
Popish or Protestant, that does not resoii to these unholy 
excitements, these stratagems of Satan to raise funds for 
some object of benevolence ? It is money, money ! Money 
we want, money we will have. Gospel or no Gospel, heaven 
or no heaven. Gospel and soul-saving are laid aside. 

" The excitement for weeks is more or less dissixDating, 
swallowing up every thought of the soul's weKare. Chil- 
di'en and youth are on fii^e for a spree — and what else are 
very many of these festivals and pic-nic excm'sions but 
sprees or fi'oHcs ? 

*' All false rehgions seek to attract interest by amuse- 
ments and animal gi^atifications. The worshipers of the 
golden calf sat down to eat and diink the oblations to their 
new god, and then rose up to play. And a bait of sensu- 
ahty in some form has always been the Im^e to heathen 
worship. Popeiy has always followed in the same line. 
Even Sabbath worship connects a dance with the mass. 
And throughout the whole stmcture of that ' mystery of 
iniquity,' the sensual and the comic are interwoven with the 
pomps and ritual of worship. And one of the most com- 
mon methods by which decay advances upon soimd chiu'ches 
is by pleas of amusements to give an attractive and hilari- 
ous character to rehgion — which usually are so many pleas 
for conformity to the world." 

F. " Are we to renounce all mh'th, be dull and melan- 
choly, Mr. Lovegood ?" 



SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK. 203 

L, " Seriousness and solid happiness are inseparable." 
F, " Does not Solomon say : * To everytliing there is a 
season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven ?' " 

L, " Does Solomon tell us there is a time for sin and 
folly ? I am not unaware of the value of a cheerful rehgion. 
I respond to the reasonableness of the command to ' rejoice 
evermore/ And yet we read that the 'joy of the Lord is 
your strength/ and that our rejoicing must be in God to 
make it a rehgious joy. It is not a rehgious joy, where 
professedly religious men indulge in gratifications that are 
worldly, sensual and fiivolous. 

** * There is a path that leads to God ; 
All others go astray.' 

" Mi's. Fickle, you were familiar with the life and writings 
of that eminently godly minister of Christ, J. W. Alex- 
ander r 

F, " Pastor of the church on Fifth Avenue, corner of 
Nineteenth Street?" 

L. " Precisely — for many years." 

F, "Well, what of him?" 

L, " In writing to a friend, he speaks thus : ' As I grow 
older as a parent, my views are changing fast as to the de- 
gree of conformity to the world which we should allow to 
our children. I am horror-struck to count up the proffli- 
gate children of pious parents, and even ministers. The 
door at which those influences enter which countervail 
parental instruction and example, I am persuaded, is yield- 
ing to the ways of a pleasure-seeking world — " the lovers 
of pleasure more than the lovers of God." By dress, books 
and amusements, an atmosphere is formed which is not that 
of Christianity. More than ever do I feel that oiu^ families 



204 SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK. 

must stand in a kind but determined opposition to the fash- 
ions of the day.' " 

F. "You give 'pic-nics' a slap — what harm of these, 
pray?'' 

L. " Object to amusements for httle folks or great folks ? 
When — on what occasion ? Sooner hush the tuneful lark, 
tie the legs of the skipping squirrel, stop the flowers from 
blooming, or the woods and the fields from growing green, 
than deprive the buoyant youth of innocent recreation, ex- 
cm^sions to the shady grove ! 

" The twinkling stars, the sun, the moon, all nature pours 
forth her sweet melodies. The Httle hills skip like lambs, 
the mountains break forth into singing, and all the trees of 
the forest clap their hands joyfully. But when Satan takes 
the lead, comes in for a large share of the spoils, I say 
hands off, stop the leakes, put out the fires ! 

" What are Sunday-schools for ? To tickle the fancy ? 
gather in ' Httle ones' for sport ? This blessed institution, 
intended exclusively for soul-saving, is frequently a Gospel- 
hardening, conscience-searing process. The truths taught 
here, instead of being a savor of Hfe unto life, are a savor of 
death unto death ! Children grow up infidels, go out into 
the world infidels, reprobates under the mid-day sunHght 
of the Gospel, take seats with the scornful ! How seldom 
do we hear of any special revivals in Sunday-schools at the 
present day ! And when awakenings do occur, alas ! how 
supei-ficial, how short-Hved ! ' Like the morning cloud and 
early dew.' Is there not a cause for this dearth and spiritual 
death ? Is it not this perpetual rush for the visionary ? the 
lack of Gospel teaching ? ' If the salt have lost its savor, 
wherewith shaU it be salted?' — Matt v. 13. 

" To make schools, on the Lord's day or any day, scenes of 



SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DEINK. 205 

hilarity, merriment, fun, frolic, is to defeat the special ob- 
ject in view." 

F. " I perceive where you stand, Mr. Lovegood ; you 
contravene even our Sunday-school exhibitions or concerts, 
the dehghtful speechif}dngs of the juveniles !" 

L. " The way they are usually conducted, ungospehzed, 
I do. Children are naturally excitable, inclined to pride, 
folly, and self-complacency. And instead of fostering these 
reptiles, every possible means should be resorted to, to coun- 
teract and exterminate them, and lead them directly to the 
feet of Jesus. Very many of our common Sunday-school 
exhibitions tend to puff up or inflate juvenile minds." 

F. " Specify the evils if there are any, Mr. Lovegood ?" 

L. "1. They excite envy in the children. Those who are 
not selected to speak envy those who are. 

" 2. They encourage pride of s]Duit and pride of dress — 
that is, pride of talent in the speakers ; and pride of dress, 
because the girls and young ladies are often dressed as for 
a show. 

" 3. They are destructive of spiritual interest in the 
school, especially in seasons of revival. 

" 4. They create confusion and disorganization in the 
school, owing to the attention given to preparation and to 
efforts to enhst children in the sale of tickets, etc. 

" 5. They have a reactionary tendency, throwing the 
school backward for weeks after they are over. 

" 6. They are mere money-making affairs, and to make 
them popular with irrehgious persons the pieces selected 
are often irrehgious and of evil tendency." 

F. " Would you ad^dse parents to withdraw their httle 
ones from these nurseries of piety, Mr. Lovegood ?" 

i. " If contamination and damnation, instead of salva- 



206 SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DKINK. 

tion, assuredly. As I remarked previously, five distinguished 
Presbyterian elders, of the city of New York, told me, with 
tears, ' We are compelled to keep our children out of Sun- 
day-school altogether because of the swarms of pious novels 
which infests the shelves.' The church is helping the world 
— projecting it into amusements. Novels lay the ground- 
work for gambhng, in the chiu'ch and out of it. Let me 
specify more definitely how Satan is gaining the ascendency. 
The use of wine — not to say strong liquors, at the dinner- 
table, is not unfrequently in so-called Christian homes. At- 
tendance at the opera or theater is no more classed among 
mterdicted amusements. The sons and daughters of Chris- 
tian households are trained in dancing-schools, 23ermitted 
to give juvenile balls, engage in various dissipating amuse- 
ments that tui^n away the heart from Christ and from God. 

" Opjposition to these indulgences is pronounced Piuitan- 
ism, and Chiistianity is to be made so tolerant that such 
time-honored phrases as seM-crucifixion, self-denial, keeping 
the body under, spiritually-minded, and the like, are to be 
cast out of the Christian vocabulary. Piety is no longer to 
be armor-clad, armed in the battle-field ; but is to be clothed 
in gay dressing-gowns, shppered, lodged in well-stuffed easy- 
chau's. The road to heaven is to be traveled in railway- 
cars, with ample accommodations for the world, the flesh, 
and the devil, in suitable portions of the train. 

" That tliis spirit of self-indulgence is cherished and de- 
fended in and by numerous Clnistian families, is undeniable. 
That it is increasing is equally true, and wdll become gene- 
ral, if not sternly checked." 

F. " Are you not, Mr.— " 

L. " Hold ! a moment, Mrs. Fickle, I was about to say, 
dming the past summer, I saw ministers in high standing 



SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK. 207 

play hours at croquet, and in a large parlor, lead the assem- 
bly in ' amusement ' at charades, conundrums, and other 
like sports, and with no misgivings preach and administer 
commimion a Sabbath after. We are growing in the wis- 
dom that attains flowers without thorns — and without fruit. 
"We are adopting a cross disarmed of its nails and wreathed 
with roses, a flowery bed of ease, whereon to be carried to 
the skies. In absence of the music of heaven, we are lulled 
and charmed by the music of the opera. The sword of the 
Spirit, ' sharp and piercing to the dividing asunder of joints 
and marrow,' is muffled with flowers of poppy, a wand of 
sensuous soothing and spiritual numbness. I clip the fol- 
lowing from the Boston Journal of March 4th : 

" < The Young Men's Christian Association of Meriden, 
Conn., purposes to erect a new building. In addition to two 
stores, the buildmg will contain a bowhng-alley, coffee and 
refreshment room, hbrary, conversation and amusement 
room, and gymnasium. There will also be a haU arranged 
for private theatricals, etc' 

" ' Private theatricals' will be found but a stepping-stone 
to the public theater, and though members in some respects 
may have ' a form of godhness,' it will be manifest that they 
are ^ lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.' 

" The festivals of various names connected of late years 
with churches of different denominations are working to the 
same end. Who can draw the hne between the church and 
the world on such occasions ? No thorough, enhghtened 
Christian can be satisfied that festivals are Christ-like in 
which 'grab-bags,' * guess-cakes,' 'post-offices,' and similar 
means are resorted to for the purpose of raising money for 
church-building, etc. Only imagine such a festival held in 
the apostoUc age : Paul, for example, putting his hand into 



208 SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DKINK. 

a bag and pulling out a rag-baby amid a roar of laughter ; 
Peter paying out a few cents (for he would not be likely to 
have much silver and gold unless he got it by nnracle, as he 
did the money to pay his tax) for a piece of cake — hoping 
to be lucky enough to find a ring in it : * the beloved dis- 
ciple' charged an exorbitant price for a letter in the church 
post-office — which he pays rather than to appear mean by 
refusing to do it ; or a large number of the primitive dis- 
ciples appealing to the flesh by announcing a tui^key or an 
oyster-supper at a hotel, for the purpose of getting money 
out of the men of the world, and having a good time them- 
selves !" 

F. " Excuse me, Mr. Lovegood, I must be off ; every mo- 
ment is gold till our ' Sociable' is consummated. May we not 
have the pleasm^e of seeing you present, your wife and 
daughters on the occasion ?" 

L. " How can you consistently press your invitation after 
what has been said ? I would as soon attend a theater, a 
Saratoga hop, a horse race or that club-house of the prince 
of gamblers." 

F, " Christians at Saratoga do attend these places of 
amusement ; not a few, and some sanctified ones. What 
harm in looking on if so be they don't hop themselves, bet, 
lay a wager, or take a pledge at the horse race or club- 
house r 

L. " ' Be not conformed to this world, but be ye trans- 
formed.' * Love not the world nor the things of the world. 
If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in 
him.' ' Know ye not that the fiiendship of the world is 
enmity with God ? whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of 
the world is the enemy of God." 

" * Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, 



SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DEINK. 209 

an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable 
to God by Jesus Christ. Ye are a chosen generation, a 
royal priesthood, an holy nation, a pecuhar people ; that 
ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called 
you out of darkness into his marvellous Hght." — Pet, ii. 
5, 10. 

" 'Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.' 'Be ye holy, for I 
am holy.' ' Abstain from all appearance of evil.' " 

F, " Are you not a httle squeamish, Mr. Lovegood ? Some 
of the most distinguished divines, eminent pulpit orators 
(one in Brooklyn especially), look upon some of Paul's 
writings as obsolete, out of date, particularly those referring 
to self-denial, worldly conformity, etc." 

L. " Explain, Mrs. Fickle, if you have facts touching this 
false teacher, hold him up to the pubhc gaze in his naked 
deformity, as a beacon of warning !" 

F, " Mind you, Mr. Lovegood, I do not say he is false, 
but the doctrine advanced by him is, ' that the women of 
this age who jDrofess to follow Christ are not required to put 
off their trinkets and adornments. St. Paul, in this and 
other matters he said, meant only contemporary women, as 
if pride in this exhibition of itseK no longer existed.' " 

L. " Is this Gospel ? I read the Scriptures differently, 
and beHeve that when women approach the Lord's table, 
or go forward to meet Christ in any other duty, they 
are not allowed to robe themselves in the gaudy attire of 
the worldling. They are forbidden to do that at any time, 
and he is a faithful shepherd who keeps them within the 
hues. 

" Consider the words of the apostle (from 1 Tim. ii. 9): 
* I will also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, 
with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with hroidered hair, 



210 SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK. 

or gold, or pearls, or costly array' (Also 1 Pet iii. 3.) But 
go on, Mrs. Fickle." 

F, ** This same popiilar preacher declared pubUcly from 
the pulpit in Brooklyn, that 'Paul's precepts -were only 
local, and entitled to the ridicule of this age !' Speaking of 
the drama or stage, he said, ' he would not, to save his right 
hand, have the theatres of the city closed, because of their 
power to prevent evil !' " 

L. ^' Is it surprising that with such teachers and teaching 
the ' Intemationals ' and the masses keep away from rehgion, 
and are w^heeliQg into Une to fight it as a thing to be hated 
and despised? Truly 'one sinner destroyeth much good.' 

"But from what source did you gather this important 
information, Mrs. Fickle ?" 

F, " From ' The N. Y. Daily Witness ' and other periodi- 
cals. ' Mine eyes have seen it, mine ears have heard it.' " 

L. " You see, or ought to see, pleasure rules the hour. 
It is fearful to witness the inroads which worldly pleasure is 
making upon Christianity. 

" That the church is rapidly conforming to the spirit and 
pleasures of the world none can deny. The most alarming 
feature is that prominent preachers lead the way, and the 
people bhndly follow." 

F. " To calm your fears, Mr. Lovegood, do away with your 
scruples, or over-much righteousness, let me assure you our 
' sociable ' is to be respectable, genteel. Not a breath has 
been breathed as yet about ' ring cakes,' grab boxes, post- 
offices, and the Hke, or winding up with a drama or game ! 
Besides, our pastor will be on hand, and if suitable oppor- 
tunity offer, he will begin or close our exercises with prayer." 

L, " This offering prayer before or after spending the 
night, 'tUl cock crowing, in caclding nonsense, feasting to 



SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DEINK. 211 

gluttony, serving the devil in various ways, I look upon as 
the worst feature in the case — solemn mockery ! — ^httle short 
of blasphemy ! saddling your abominations on the Almighty ! 

" Suppose Aaron had offered a prayer before or after he 
and the rest of the idolaters danced around the golden caK, 
saying : ' These be thy gods, O Israel !' would it not have 
added to his guilt ten fold ? See Ex. xxxii. 2, 3, 4. 

" You recollect well, Mrs. Fickle, what rascally things took 
place at that tin-we^dding !" 

F. " When and where, Mr. Lovegood ?" 

L. "In Brooklyn. The scene was disgraceful beyond 
expression. After spending a large part of the night in 
sensuous hilaiity, tri^Dhammer, nonsensical garrulity, and 
when about to wind up, the pastor comes forward and dis- 
plays his clerical wit, the merry Andrew or buffoon, 'mid 
roars of laughter, in the presence of both saints and sinners, 
then to cap the climax of iniquity — prayer was offered ! 
The same was true at the supper or banquet given to deify 
a ceii^ain bishop, at a rum-selling, gambling hotel in 
Chicago, ni. ' For the time past of our life may suffice us 
to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked 
in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquet- 
ings, and abominable idolatries.' 

" Those famihar with the facts in these cases, assure us 
that the whole proceedings were ridiculous in the extreme, 
shockingly disgusting, enough to cause angels to weep, and 
Satan to blush ! How is the gold become dim ! how is the 
most fine gold changed ! 

*' ' Will ye play, then, will ye dally 

With your music and your wine ? 
Up ! it is Jehovah's rally ! 

God's own arm hath need of thine !' 



212 SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DEINK. 

" The festivals or sociables you are planning and endors- 
ing, IMrs. Fickle, are stumbling-blocks to the ivorld I Sinners 
are eagle-eyed — they see and know these festivals are gotten 
up for selfish purposes ; that their chief object is money- 
making and not soul-saving. Consequently they lose confi- 
dence in rehgious professors, and become more given up to 
the service of sin and Satan. Exhort sinners to faith, 
repentance, and newness of life, they point us directly to 
these dark spots, beguiling unstable souls, sporting them- 
selves with their own deceivings ! Impenitent sinners, 
instead of looking to the Bible, to the Lord Jesus Christ for 
the truth, for the rehgion of purity and love, as they ought 
to, and as God commands them to do, they look upon 
ungodly church-members, and judge of rehgion as they see 
it embodied in these dry bones, in those having a name to 
Hve and are dead, having a form of godliness, but, by wicked 
works, denying the power thereof ! Thus the world is reel- 
ing on, hke a drunken man, to dark damnation ! 

" I object to them because they are stimabHng-blocks to 
young converts, the lambs of the flock ; one special cause 
of their backshding, losing their first love. How can it be 
otherwise ? A fearful woe is pronoiuiced agamst those who 
offend or cause God's ' httle ones' to stumble. (See Math, 
xviii. 6.) 

" They wound the hearts of God's chosen people. The 
most consistent, consecrated, humble, devoted disciples of 
Jesus are always grieved at this method of raising money 
for rehgious objects. They see and know with sorrow the 
evil effects on the church and the world. 

" * If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh 
while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. 
< Give none offence, neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles> 



SITTDJG DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK. 213 

nor to the church of Cod.' * Even as I please all men/ says 
Paul, ' in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the 
profit of many, that they may be saved.' ' Whether, there- 
fore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory 
of God.'— 1 Cor. X. 31, 32, 33. 

"Again, they are special hindrances to revivals. Soul- 
saving is out of the question, so long as these fairs, tea- 
parties, or festivals, are on the docket. And when these 
upheavings are over, the undue excitement for weeks in the 
preparation of luxuries, fancy articles of Httle or no value — 
the late hours, the gluttony, the surfeitings, the fooHsh talk- 
ings and jestings — who is prepared for prayer, praise, or to 
labor in a revival, to urge sinners to repentance, temperance, 
and holy hving? Samson is shorn of his locks. Often 
when God is near to bless, revive His work, pour out His 
Spirit graciously, convict and convert sinners ; when in- 
quiring souls are weeping between the porch and the altar ; 
just at this crisis Satan comes in, stirs up the people — 
cold, formal, backshdden church-members* — for a fair, 
donation, tea or strawberry party, a pic-nic, oyster-supper, a 
feast of some kind, to turn away the attention from things 
pertaining to life eternal, hope everlasting ! Thus the 
Holy Spirit is grieved, takes His flight, the revival is 
scattered to the four winds ! 

" ' The fact that " fairs " make the procurement of means 
to pay for a house of worship or to purchase a Sunday- 
school hbrary, simply a matter of buying and selling, 
resolves itself into a weighty objection to their propriety. 
They are departures from the New Testament method of 



♦ Is it not invariably true that none but backsliders or formalists, having a name to 
live and are dead, ever dream of pushing these cars of Satan ? 



214 SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK. 

meeting the pecuniary necessities of the church, and so far' 
forth must operate against the spirit of self-denial, liberahty 
and faith which that method calls into action. 

" ^ Whatever is done by a church, or by a portion of the 
members /or it, should be so done as neither to sacrifice nor 
to obscure that which distinguishes the church from the 
world. How totally fairs, festivals, or tea-parties fail to 
meet this requirement, we need not tarry to depict. They 
are scenes of mirthfulness and levity, in which men can 
trace nothing that distinguishes the church from the 
world.' 

" Besides, the precedent of making God's house a house 
of merchandize, is a dangerous one. When we see the 
whole world on fire with sin and Satan, shall we add fuel to 
the flame by our example ? ' Behold how gi-eat a matter a 
little fire kindleth.' 

'* ' The course of evil 
Begins so slowly, and from such light source, 
An infant's hand might stop the breach with clay ; 
But let the stream get deeper, and philosophy, 
Aye, and religion too, shall strive in vain 
To turn the headlong cuirent !' 

" What ! compromise with the devil, to obtaia the de^dl's 
money to build up God's cause ? This is worse than the 
game of Tetzel's seUing indulgences ; only on a smaller 
scale. Does the blessed Lord desh-e his children to go beg- 
giag of Satan's emissaries, unpenitent sinners, rebels against 
God to uphold his kingdom ? ^Vhen ? and where such a 
proposal or consent ? 

" The sin of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who made Israel to 
siQ, become idolaters, by setting up two golden calves, one 
in Bethel and the other in Dan, (1 .^m^s xii. 28, 29,) is 



SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK. 215 

nothing compared to this idolatry and witchcraft in onr 
churches ! — Acts xvii. 30. 

" ' Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of 
the land of Eg^^pt.' 

" Multitudes of God's faithful ones are beginning to awake 
to this superabounding ^iniquity which God knoweth.' 
T. Dewitt Talmage, of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, says : 
* Do you wonder that churches built, Hghted, or upholstered 
by such processes as that, come to great financial and 
spiritual decrepitude ? The devil says : " / helped build 
that house of worship, and I have as much right there as 
you have ;" — and for once the devil is right. 

" ' We do not read that they had a lottery for building a 
church at Corinth or Antioch, or for getting up a gold- 
headed cane, or for an embroidered surphce for St. Paul. 
All this I style ecclesiastical gambling. More than one man 
who is destroyed can say that his fii^st step on the wrong 
road was when he won something at a church fair.' 

"President C. G. Finney, of Oberlin, the revivahst, 
alluding to these revival-killers and soul-destroyers, remarks 
thus : 

" ' Often when it comes the time of year to work, when 
the evenings are long, and business is hght, and the very 
time to make an extra effort — at this moment somebody in 
the church will give a party and invite some Christian 
friends, so as to have it a rehgious party. And then some 
other family must do the same, to return the comphment. 
Then another and another, till it grows into an organized 
system of parties, that consimie the whole winter. 

" ' This is the grand design of the devil, because it appeai-s 
so innocent and so proper to promote good feeling, and 
increase the acquaintance of Chiistians with each other. 



216 SITTING DOWN TO EAT AND DEINK. 

And so, instead of prayer-meetings, tliey will have these 
parties. The evils of these parties are very great. They 
are often got up at great expense ; and the most abomina- 
ble gluttony is practised at them. 

" ' But it is said they are Christian parties, and that they 
are all, or nearly all, professors of reHgion who attend them. 
And furthermore, they are often concluded with prayer. 
Now I regard this as one of the worst features about them ; 
that after the waste of time and money, the excess in eating 
and drinking, the vain conversation and nameless fooleries 
with which such a season is filled up, an attempt is made to 
sanctify it and to palm it oflf upon God, by concluding it 
with prayer! Say what you will, it would not be more 
absurd, or incongruous, or impious to close a ball or a 
theatre with prayer. 

" ' But I shall advise any congregation who are calculating 
to have a circle of parties, in the meantime to dismiss their 
minister, and let him go and preach where the people would 
be ready to receive the word and profit by it, and not have 
him stay and be distressed, and grieved, and killed by 
attempting to promote rehgion among them, while they are 
engaged, heart and hand, in the service of the devil ! Pro- 
fessors should never get up anything that may divert pubhc 
attention from rehgion. In relation to giving parties, say 
what you please about their being an innocent recreation, I 
appeal to any of you, who have ever attended them, to say 
whether they fit you for prayer, or increase your spirituahty, 
whether sinners are ever converted in them, or Christians 
made to agonize in prayer for souls.' " 



PkiCE $2.25 per loo copies, at the office of the — " Home Thrusts," " Shining 
Light," "The Sword that Cuts, the Fire that Burns," "Apples of Gold in Pictures of 
Silver," — 303 West Twentieth street, New York. {Orders thank/idly received.) 



'|!'13a»9*,. 




AMUSEMENTS AND RECKEATIONS. 

*' As bird from fowler's share set free, 
Soaring sings ' Sweet Liberty ! ' 
As the roe from the hunter's hand, 
Darting, bounds o'er stream and land ; 
So, from Satan's slavish band, 
So, from this world's iron hand 
Our soul 's set free ! "* 

Recreation is a demand of our nature, and is profita* 
ble not only for young people, but for children of 
larger growth also. The important question is. What 
kind of amusement should be allowed ? The taste for 
games of hazard is growing upon our people, until 
gambling is rapidly becoming a national vice, and it is, 
therefore, questionable whether any game of ''chance," 
however innocent it may seem in itself, has not in it a 
tendency to cultivate a desire for the excitement of 
technical gambling. 

" A man's heart deviseth his way ; but the Lord 
directeth his steps." — Prov. xvi. 9. 



* *' Why do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your 
labor for that which satisfieth not ? Hearken diligently, and eat ye 
that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Ho ! 
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no 
money ; come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk with- 
out money and without price." — Isa, Iv. 2, 1. **0 that men "were 
wiHe, that they understood this 1 " 




A PIOUS FATHER INSTRUCTmG HIS SON IN WAYS OP 

WISDOM. 

BEAUTIFUL I BEAUTIFUL ! ! 



YouiSTG readers, is not this beautiful, exquisitely? — de- 
lightfally interesting ? What more so ? Look at it, listen, 
listen — hark ! " My son, forget not my law ; but let thine 
heart keep my commandments ; for length of days and 
long life and peace shall they add to thee. 

Let not mercy and truth forsake thee : bind them about 
thy neck ; write them upon the tablets of thine heart : so 
that thou find favor and good understanding in the sight 
of God and man." Prov, iii. 1-4. 



SPYINe THE NAKEDNESS OP THE LAND. 



Conversation between Mr. Timewell and Mr. Servility. 

(No. 12.) 

**And when Moses saw that the people were naked, (for Aaron 
had made them naked unto their shame, amongst their enemies)." — 
Ex. xxxii. 24. 

T. " You're in time, friend Servility ; so far so good. 
This scene is the closing one — ^the finale. Another interview 
■we may not have till at the bar of the Highest, where the 
secrets of your heart and mine wiU be revealed. 

" ^ For God shall bring every work into judgment, with 
every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be 
evil.' — Ecc, xii. 14. 

"I beseech you, therefore, suffer the word of exhorta- 
tion." 

S, " Speak, Mr. Timeweh." 

T, " Tour name is Servihty — ^you continue in the ' Eing,' 
move in a circle, and will doubtless, while you hve, move, 
have your being. The Ethiopian change his skin ! or the 
leopard his spots ! "When ? — where ? 

" ' Because sentence against an e^dl work is not executed 
speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set 
in them to do evil.' — Ecc, viii. 11." 

S. " What now calls forth your vindictiveness ?" 

T. " ' Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the 
way : and he that hateth reproof shaU die.' — Fi^ov. xv. 10. 

" Eebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give 

220 



SPYING THE NAKEDNESS OF THE LAND. 221 

instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser : teach a 
just man, and lie will increase in learning.' — Prov, ix. 9." 

S. " I'm in the dark — I know not to what you allude." 

T. " ' Do ye indeed speak righteousness ? — do ye judge 
uprightly?' * Yea, in heart ye work wickedness.' — Psa. 
Iviii. 2. 

" You shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for 
you neither go in yourself, nor suffer you them that are 
entering to go in. What wickedness greater, this side 
perdition ? 

"Mark these whited sepulchres that tithed mint, anise 
and cumin, ' and omitted the weightier matters of the law — 
judgment, mercy, and faith ;' blind guides, which strained at 
a gnat and swallowed a camel — and what fearful judgments 
denounced by our blessed Lord upon them ! 

" ' Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye ser- 
pents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the dam- 
nation of heU r—Math. xxiii. 32, 33." 

S. " I'm stiU in the dark, Mr. TimeweU." 

T, " None are so blind as those that wiU not see. ' If we 
say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness^ 
we he, and do not the truth.' — 1 John i. 6. 

S. "Is not every man considered innocent till proved 
goUty ?» 

T. "I speak what I do know, testify to what I have seen. 
Call to remembrance that course of lectures you pubhcly 
announced — on amusements — ' the lust of the flesh, the lust 
of the eyes, and the pride of life ?' " 

;S^. " What of them ?" 

T. "What of them! Indeed! Did you obey God? 
assume the apostolical ? or play the coward, the sycophant ? 
On theatricals you laid aside yom^ gloves for a httle space, 



222 SPYING THE NAKEDNESS OF THE LAND. 

bristled up porcupinely, swelled like Esop's frog, declaimed 
rousingly against these bubblings of the pit, moral leprosies, 
sink holes, and hot-beds of lewdness. This you could do 
safely, and not infringe or trespass on your popularity, or 
the receiving of honor from men ; you could thimder and 
flash hghtnings in the face and eyes of what satan himseK 
would not be afraid to do, and keep inside the *' ring." But, 
mark you, friend Servility, when you came to novels, ro- 
mances, popular works of fiction, religious white-lying, pub- 
hshing and puffing ; secret conclaves, the * pic-nics ' of the 
day, fashionable choirs ; popish church building ; the broid- 
ered hair, the ^ gold, pearls, and costly array,' ' the tinkhng 
ornaments,' the ' cauls and round tires,' like the moon ; 'the 
chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and 
the ornaments of the legs, and the head-bands and the tab- 
lets, and the ear-rings ; the rings and nose jewels ; the 
changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wim- 
ples, and the crisping pins ; the glasses, and the fine linen, 
and the hoods, and the vails.' — Isa. iv. 19, 23. 

" "What now, stand the fire ? Nay, you winced, succumbed, 
conferred with flesh and blood ; daubed here, daubed there, 
bowed the knee to Baal ; else you held your peace ; hush-- 
ed rebuke hke a dumb dog that ' cannot bai'k, sleeping, ly- 
ing down, loving to slumber.' — Isa. Ivi. 10, 11. *Your 
glorying is not good.' 

" Wherefore these conservative plasters, this covering of 
sin ? staring you full in the face heaven-daring ? 

" You knew you were before an audience that would not 
endure sound doctrine, that had, for a long time, after their 
own lusts, heaped to themselves teachers having itching 
ears — that turned away their ears from the truth and were 
turned 'unto fables.' — 2 Tim. iv. 1-5. 



BPyiNG THE NAKEDNESS OF THE LAND. 223 

" ' If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto 
death, and those that are ready to be slain : If thou sayest, 
Behold, we knew it not : doth not he that pondereth the 
heart consider it ? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not 
be know it ? and shall not he render to every man according 
to his works ?' — Prov, xxiv. 11, 12. 

" Your example, Mr. Servility, is death in the pot — death 
spiritual — ^its damnation ! 

" Were God to deal with very many teachers in Israel in 
our popular churches in New York and out of it as he dealt 
with Ananias and Sapphira for keeping ' back part of the 
price,' how many dead corpses think would be found in 
pulpits here and there ? And you among the rest, Mr. Ser- 
vility, for you withhold the truth, refuse to declare God's 
full council — ^ all the words of this life ' — clear your skirts of 
blood ! Horrible ! 

" ' Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the 
flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rotten- 
ness, and their blossom shall go up as dust : because they 
have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised 
the word of the Holy one of Israel.' — Isa. v. 24." 

S, "Why make mountains of mole-hills, Mr. Timewell? 
Thousands of the most eminent divines in our day never 
dream of referring to those parts of Scriptui-e in Isaiah and 
St. Paul alluding to fashionable gayety, personal adorn- 
ments, tinkling ornaments, ^ mantles and wimples ' you speak 
of. Some distinguished pulpit orators totally discard these 
passages as applicable to modem and intellectual refinement. 
By your over-much righteousness you unchurch one-half, if 
not two-thirds, of our most elegant church members — 
regular communicants." 

T, " * He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it ; and whoso 



224 SPYING THE NAKEDNESS OF THE LAND. 

breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him. Surely the ser- 
pent will bite without enchantment, and a babbler is no 
better.' — Ecc, x. 8, 11. 

" ' There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, 
and yet is not washed from their filthiness.' 

" ' Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and 
thou be found a Har/ 

" ' For I testify unto every man that heareth the words 
of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto 
these things, God shall add imto him the plagues that are 
written in this book : 

" * And if any man shall take away from the words of the 
book of this prophecy, Grod shall take away his part out of 
the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the 
things which are written in this book/ — Rev. xxii. 18, 19. 

" Beware how you tamper with God's word ; better a 
mill-stone were tied to your neck, and yourself hurled into 
a sea bottomless I 

"*WeU spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet 
unto om^ fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, 
-Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand ; and see- 
ing ye shaU see, and not perceive : For the heart of this 
people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, 
and their eyes have they closed ; lest they should see with 
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with 
their heaii;, and should be converted, and I should heal 
them:— Acts xxviii. 25, 26, 27. 

" Fashion rules the world — cm-ses the world ! I've gone 
no farther in brandishing God's two-edged sword in the 
face and eyes of this idolatrous age than one of your own 
conservatives, or 'Ring' folks." 

S. " To whom do you aUude ?" 



SPYING THE NAKEDNESS OF THE LAND. 225 

T. " The good Dr. Crosby ventures to step one foot out 
of the ' Eing ' for a moment, and say by pen what it seems 
he fears to say in the presence of his gayly-dressed and 
fashionable audience 1" 

S, "What is it? Out with it." 

T. " ' If I were called to point out/ says Dr. Crosby, 
'the most alarming sins to-day — ^those which are most 
deceitful in their influence, and most soul-destroying in theii' 
intimate effects— I would not mention drunkenness, with 
all its fearful havoc ; nor gambling, with its crazed victuns ; 
nor harlotry, with its helhsh orgies ; but the love of money 
on the part of men, and the love of display on the part of 
women. While open vice sends its thousands, these 
fashionable and favored indulgences send their ten thous- 
ands to perdition. They sear the conscience, incrust the 
soul with an impenetrable shell of worldliness, debauch the 
affections from every high and heavenly object, and make 
man or woman the worshiper of self. While doing aU this, 
the poor victim is allowed by pubhc opinion to think him- 
seM or herself a Christian ; while the drunkard, the gambler, 
or the prostitute is not deceived by such a thought for a 

moment.' 

" ' Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of 
Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and 
wanton eyes, walking and mincmg as they go, and making 
a tinkling with their feet : 

" ' Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown 
of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord wiU dis- 
cover their secret parts. 

" 'In that day the Lord wiU take away the bravery of 
their tinkhng ornaments about their feet, . . . 

"'And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet 



226 SPYING THE NAKEDNESS OF THE LAND. 

smell, there shall be stink ; and instead of a girdle, a rent ; 
and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a 
stomacher, a girdling of sackcloth ; and burning instead of 
beauty. 

" * Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in 
the war. 

" ' And her gates shall lament and mourn ; and she being 
desolate shall sit upon the ground.' — Isa. iii. 16-26. 

" ' If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost : 
in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of 
them which beheye not, lest the hght of the glorious gospel 
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto 
them.'— 2 Cor, iv. 3, 4." 



Tlie Accursed Tiling 



The Israelites are smitten at Ai. 

"But tlie children to Israel committed a trespass in the accursed 
thing." — Josh. vii. 1. 

The army of Joshua could not prosper while Achan was 
in the camp. The ship's crew must have been lost had not 
Jonah been thrown overboard. 

If God's people could not prosper with only one Achan 
in the camp, how can they now with many Achans in the 
church ? The children of Israel were smitten before their 
enemies for Achan's sake ; and, until the guilty one was 
brought to punishment^ the heart of the people was as 
water, and they could not stand before their enemies. The 
trespass of Achan cost the entire defeat of the Hebrew 
army, and the Hves of thirty-six men, besides that of all his 
own family. 

.'* Apples of Gold," 303 West Twentieth Street, New York. 




BUSY FOLKS, OR LITTLE FOLKS BUSY. 

LITTLE FOLKS BUSY? BUST AS A BEE THAT GATHERS HOXET FROM EVERY 

OPENING FLOWER. 



Keep them still ? No, you can't. It's work, work, from 
sunrise to sunset. How. much, think you, does a little 
child daily ? can you tell ? It is doing this, doing that — 
tottering here, tottering there — climbing up here, kneeling 
down there, running to another place, but never still. 
Twisting and turning, rolling and doubling, as if testing 
every bone and muscle for their future uses. It is very 
curious to watch it. One who does so will understand the 
deep breathing of the little sleeper, as, with one arm tossed 
over its curly head, it prepares for the next day's gym- 
nastics. Tireless through the day, till that time comes, 
as the maternal love that accommodates itself, hour after 
hour, to its thousand wants and caprices, real and imaginary. 




Winning tlie Hearts of Little Folks. 

*' Love is the little golden clasp 
That bindeth up the trust ; 
Oh, break it not ; lest all the leaves 
Shall scatter and be lost." 

The heaii of a child is easily won. Love begets love. 
Love childreii and they will love you. Let children feel that 
you care for them, that you are interested in all that 
interests them, that you s^nnpathize with them in all their 
Httle sorrows, rejoice with them in all their httle joys, that 
you are their friend, and you have the key to their hearts. 

Smile upon a child : have you not won its heart ? Does 
it not smile in return? Do not its eyes foUow you? 
Does not its face sadden as you disappear, and smile when 
you come again ? Does that smile cost you anything ? 

228 



WINNING THE HEARTS OF LITTLfi FOLKS. 229 

It is sweet to have cliildi'en love us. It is sweet to know 
that they dehght to nestle upon our bosoms, and that their 
Httle arms long to clasp about our necks. It is sweet to 
feel the soft cHnging tendrils of their honest hearts inter- 
twining, cosily and trustingly, in among the stouter and 
chilher tendrils of our own. 

Love is the grand secret in domestic education. Give 
your children a genial, loving atmosphere in which to grow. 
Love precludes not decision or correction, but is prompt in 
the execution of both. 

Deal with your children as God deals with his. Do not 
meet their anger with your anger, their petulance with your 
own, or their obstinacy with wilfulness still greater. Over- 
come evil with good. When God called himself a father, 
he chose a name which he designed to be significant of 
overflowing love, tender mercy, and long-continued for- 
bearance. 

Parents, " provoke not your children to wrath." ^ 

*' A word, a look, has crushed to earth 
Full many a budding flower, 
"Which, had a smile but own'd its birth, 
Would bless life's darkest kour." 

A heavenly countenance is the highest commendation, 
the most conclusive argument for the character of him who 
earns it. One glimpse of an angel's face would probably do 
more to impress us with the beauty of holiness than many 
an eloquent sermon an hour long. Stephen's radiant face 
was a powerful auxiliary to his discourse. The shining 
face of Moses, when he came down from the Mount, was 
proof to the Israelites that he had seen the Lord. 

If this be true with an audience of adults, how much more 
with children ! Sensitive as they are, and often affected. 



230 WINNING THE HEAETS OF LITTLE FOLKS. 

they cannot tell why or how, and gazing steadfastly as they 
do, with no sense of impropriety, into the face of their 
parent or teacher, it is almost unavoidable that his image 
should be reproduced in them. 

** Then deem it not an idle thing 
A pleasant word to speak ; 
The face you wear, the thoughts you bring, 
A heart may heal or break. *' 

What will not love do ? Who can describe its powerful 
subduing influences ? Who ever accompHshed anything by 
reproaches, or violence, or harsh measiu^es ? You gratify a 
private and dark passion in your own heart, and arouse a 
darker one in another bosom. Oh, try the mighty efficacy 
of love ! One smile of genuine sympathy is worth all your 
pm'se to a beggar. " Beloved, let us love one another ; for 
love is of God ; and every one that loveth is bom of God, 
and knoweth God." — 1 John iii. 7. 

Parents, commend your httle ones whenever they do 
right, perform that which is good and praiseworthy. When- 
ever they are quick to obey cheerfully, express youi' grateful 
approbation ; tell them how pleased you are at any improve- 
ment in weU-doing. Tour child has been very pleasing and 
obedient through the day. Just before putting him to sleep 
for the night, you take his hand and say : " My son, you 
have been very good to-day. It makes me veiy happy to 
see you so kind and obedient. God loves children who are 
dutiful to their parents, and he promises to make them 
happy." 

This approbation from his mother is to him a great 
reward. And when with a more than ordinarily affection- 
ate tone you say, " Good-night, my dear son," he leaves the 



WINNING THE HEAETS OF LITTLE FOLKS. 231 

room with his Httle eyes full of feeling. And when he 
closes his eyes for sleep he is happy, and resolves that he 
wiU always try to do his duty. 

* * Good-night is but a little word, 
Yet beautiful though brief, 
And falls upon the gentle heart 
Like dew upon the leaf." 



Mothers, train your daughters to he mothers! Think 
what a mother ought to be in every relation of life — social, 
domestic, pubhc, at home and abroad, by day and by night. 
Think of Washington's mother, Samuel's, Timothy's, the 
mother of our Lord. Mothers cannot be good mothers, 
unless taught to be good mothers from their infancy. If 
aU mothers were good mothers, would not our world soon 
be a paradise ? 

The Bible lays down four great rules, involving four 
great elements of successful religious training of children : 
prayer^ example, instruction, and restraint. And it is 
doubted if a soHtary case can be found when all these have 
been united, where the child has not followed in the foot- 
steps of the pious parent. 

Disobedience to parents is the beginning of all crime ! 
How infinitely important then that the habits of disobedience 
should never be formed. 

It is only from the Bible we learn that God is love ; that 
his character is spotlessly holy. There we are informed 
that our first duty, our chief interest, is to acquire a charac- 
ter in righteousness and benevolence hke God's. 

" Apples of Gold," 303 West Twentieth Street, New York. 




IS'OVEMBER. 

" The leaves are fadino^ and fallino-. 
The winds are rough and wild, 
The birds have ceased their calling ; 
But let me tell you, dear child, 

" Though day by day, as it closes, 
Doth darker and colder grow. 
The roots of the brio-ht red roses 
Will keep alive in the snow. 



" And when the winter is over. 

The boughs will get new leaves, 
The quail come back to the clover, 
And the swallow back to the eaves. 



WOMAN AT HOME. 

Home is the throne of empn^es on which woman sits, the 
sceptre with which she wields the destiny of nations. All 
that is dear and holy, noble and divine, in society or the 
nation, centres back to home, where woman presides as the 
ano^el of love. 

If she would seek the honor of exerting an influence 
which shall last after the present order of the universe is 
changed, a philanthropist whose name, though not lauded 
by the fickle multitude, shall be remembered by the good 
and pure in the ages of eternity, let her not, for any social 
interest or cause, neglect the hallowed duties of home, but 
watch over them with jealous trust, with devotional con- 
stancy, with unruffled vigilance, to keep that home the 
nursery of all the virtues, the sanctuary of the heart's 
deepest loves, the " holy of holies," where the divine pres- 
ence may shine forth in her looks, and be manifest in her 
actions. 

Home is woman's true sphere. There is nothing in this 
wide world that will confer greater honor upon her than 
for her to make that home a type of what society should 
be, and of what heaven is in the graces of exalted charac- 
ter. As a wife, she should be to her husband a guardian 
angel ; as a mother, charged with the high trust of direct- 
ing the child, she should see that, like the work of the 
skilful artist, she moulds it " true to nature," beautiful and 
pure. 

'* Nor steel nor fire itself hath power, 
Like woman in her prayerful hour !'* 

The poet has disclosed the whole secret of woman's con- 
quering power. Fair in her virtue, smiling in her good- 
ness, she wields an influence which a mailed warrior never 
could. 




HIS FINGEES ARE COLD, AIN'T THEY? TERRIBLE! 

Poor boy without mittens, don't you pity him, little 
folks ? Winter ? Certainly it is. See the snowfiakes 
falling:. 



SNOW, EMBLEM OF PURITY. 

" There is something ^opure in the falling snow, 

As it comes on its wings so light, 
And mantles the valleys and plains below 

In a robe of spotless white ; 
That I love to gaze thro' the misty air, 

Where the broad flakes are at play. 
And offer a silent, earnest prayer. 

That my heart was as pure as they ; 
That every thought and wish might be 
The emblem of such purity." 



ATTEMPTS TO POISON CHILDREN. 



" It is now a well-known fact, that in most of our large 
cities — ^probably, also, in most of our large towns and 
Tillages — ^there are well-laid plans, systematically and per- 
sistently followed, for poisoning children — of both sexes, 
and of all social conditions — ^not indeed with arsenic, or 
strychnine, or Paris green, but with obscene books. To 
such an extent have these endeavors gone, that there are 
pubHshing firms with large capital invested, with many 
agents and dealers, constantly employed in producing and 
circulating the most abominably corrupting pubHcations. 
These are of different sizes, and skilfully adapted to attract 
attention, being designed mostly for children and youth 
from ten to eighteen years of age. They are put into the 
hands of hundreds and thousands of school children going 
to and from school, with the injunction to tell no one about 
them, and especially not to let their parents see them, and 
the place where they can get more is carefully told. Chil- 
dren receive the books with their gaudy pictures, wholly 
ignorant of their nature and purpose ; and by the time they 
actually learn their vileness, their minds are corrupted. 
What a horrible crime is this ! And yet, for the sake of 
gain, there are found men enough who will engage in the 
pubhcation and distribution of these polluting and destroy- 
ing works. Many of the social vices and misfortunes of 
maturer years are the direct fruits, grown and ripened, fi'om 
the reading of obscene books in childhood." 

We clip the foregoing from a daily issue. Religious 

235 



236 ATTEMPTS TO POISON CHILDEEN. 

writers, and puffers of religious novels or white lies ! see 
what you have done — are still doing. 

*' How can ye ! While the cause ye nurse, 

Which madness, crime, and misery brings ; 
How can ye dry the river*s course, 
Unless you stop its rising springs ?" 

The thought is painful in the extreme that pure and 
innocent childhood should be corrupted with the vices of 
maturer years, and of more experienced depravity. What 
monsters of evil are they that do the work ! 

Look again. 

The Traffic in Obscene Literature. 

"A meeting took place last evening at No. 107 East 
Twenty-eighth street, for the purpose of inaugurating a 
society for the suppression of the trade in and circulation of 
obscene hterature. Alderman "Wilder pointed out the 
necessity of having an amendment to the act of 1868 passed, 
so that the evil complained of could be remedied. This 
was agreed to, and the meeting adjourned till Friday, 
March 1st." 

Why not begin where Satan begins — with rehgious novel- 
writers and puffers ? 

A lack of reverence for the Word of God is the one great 
sin of Christendom. A certain tyrant of Rome used to wish 
the Roman people had but one neck, that he might dispatch 
them at a blow. You, friend, whether in the pulpit or out 
of it, continuing to traffic in religious fiction, have but one 
neck ; namely, disrespect for God's Word. If a man have 
just reverence for his Word, he will commit none of the 
sins you axe committing. 

" He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall 
suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.'' 



Decemher has not left us yet^ little readers. You see — 

Cold winter is here, and all nature looks drear, 

The streamlets in ice-fetters bound ; 
The leaves on the trees are all yellow and sere, 

And the snow-mantle covers the ground : 
The tempest now darkens the face of the skies. 

And the sharp, whistling storm-winds with terror arise. 

How cheerless and sad is the home of the poor. 
When the storm rages mournfully round ! 

When the northern wind blows, how hard to endure 
The privations which ever are found 

In the home of the needy, where poverty dwells. 

And the breast fiU'd with anguish, painfully swells ! 



PUTTIITG RAZORS TO CHILDREN'S THROATS. 



A BLESSED gospel minister, whose eyes are open to see 
what Satan is doing, throngli his active agents — ministers 
and rehgious editors — said a short time since, " that parents 
might just as well take a razor and cut their children's 
throats, as to allow them to read the corrupting hterature 
of the day." 

Is this declaration, startling as it is, too strong or too 
bold? Not in the least. If parents have made up their 
minds fully to kill their sons and daughters any how (as 
many seem to have), why not dispatch business — make 
quick work of it ! This killing by inches or piecemeal, is 
the most painful and cruel of all deaths ! 

This same Christian minister goes on to say : " Thous- 
ands of the youth of our land are annually swept down to 
heU by poisonous hterature. And yet books and papers of 
that character are to be found upon the tables of professed 
Christians. Some think them harmless, and permit them 
to ruin their own children. Fathers and mothers, look 
after youi* children, and see what they are reading. Banish 
all pernicious books and papers from your houses, and fur- 
nish your children with an abundance of such as are calcu- 
lated to make them wise and good. They may plead for 
novels, and try to convince you that they are as haimless as 
they are charming. Beware of that thought ! Hearken to 
the testimony of those who have watched the influence of 
novel-reading, 

238 



PUTTING RAZORS TO CHILDREN'S THROATS. 239 

" Goldsmith, himself a novel-writer, says : ' Above all, 
never let your son touch a novel or romance. How delu- 
sive, how destructive, are these features of consummate bHss ! 
They teach the youthful mind to sigh after beauty and hap- 
piness that never existed, to despise the httle good that 
Fortune has mixed in our cup, by expecting more than she 
ever gave.' 

"Kev. John Foster, an eminent Baptist minister in 
England, says : ' Novels are doing incalculable mischief. I 
wish we could collect them all together, and make one vast 
fire of them. I should exult to see the smoke of them 
ascend like that of Sodom and Gomorrah : the judgment 
would be as just.' The fearful results of novel-reading are a 
standing warning against the practice. Let the pulpit and 
the press speak out boldly, and arouse the unsuspecting." 

Let your mind pierce through the vista of the next twenty 
years — ^the children now wiU be men and women then — the 
long procession of drunkards, criminals, and prostitutes 
that now degrade our world, will have passed away to 
" that borne from whence no traveler returns ;" — ^but with 
the same influences at work, there wiU be few, if any, gaps 
made ; — our workhouse will be crowded as they are now — 
our gaols will be crowded as they are now — drivelling sots 
and raving maniacs will abound on every hand as they do 
now ; — a long train of lecherous harlots will infest our 
streets even as they do now. And where will they come 
from ? — where, but from our children ? Fathers ! — mothers ! 
your children are in danger ; — ^run to their rescue ! The 
most potent agency in effecting their ruin wiU be through 
the mediimi of a corrupt press in the hands of whom ? 

303 West Twentietlx Street, lVe>v Yorlc. 



KILLED WITH A HATCHET : OR FEASTINfi ON LIES. 



**LouisviLiiE, Dece^mher 28, 1871. — The inquest on the body of 
Mrs. Klanzar, killed with a hatchet by her daughter-in-law, Mrs. 
Weissert, last Saturday, revealed the probability that the murderess 
is deranged on the subject of crime, from reading cheap novels and 
the flashy literature of the day. Many such books and papers were 
found in her room, and proved that she had been in the habit of 
poring over them incessantly." 

The case of Mrs. Weissert is a common one, thougli it 
rarely happens that the biTitahty and ferocity of a criminal 
can be so easily traced to their real cause. Could the pubHc 
know how many of the suicides, murders, rapes and assaults 
of aU kinds are due directly to the brutal and lascivious 
pictures and anecdotes of sensational newspapers upon 
diseased and morbid imaginations, there would be a reac- 
tion that would speedily drive those infamous weeklies 
from the market. But comparatively few people, it wotdd 
seem, ever think of giving those newspapers their proper 
place among the causes of crime. Murders, seductions, and 
the other tragedies of every-day hfe, go on increasing from 
year to year ; the vile print-makers and pubHshers work 
harder and harder, and grow richer and richer, while the 
law that would arrest and imprison the beggar-boy for 
stealing a bone, shuts its eyes secretly to the stream of vile- 
ness that goes out on every express train from New York to 
poison and brutalize the minds of the young and weak, and 
to place before the already debauched young men of every 
town and village an incentive to crime, surpassing in influ- 
ence even the dram-shop or the brothel. 

240 



KILLED WITH A HATCHET. 241 

This woman in Louisville wlio was incited by sensational 
reading to commit murder, stands to-day as the type of a 
disease, for the existence of which society is responsible. 
"Where do these sparks of hell-fire begin? Who kindled 
them? 

This woman, doubtless, commenced her downward career 
on white hes, or rehgious novels penned and puffed by back- 
shdden, money-loving church members, trying to serve two 
masters — Christ and Behal! Then, when her taste was 
formed for the hght and visionary, where now ? — under the 
complete control of the devil ! * 

After feasting on white hes, she was prepared to take her 
fill on black hes, till given over to the vilest sins, to work 
aU manner of iniquity with greediness ! Finally, imbue her 
hands in blood ! 

Satan is at the bottom of this craziness. No one in his 
right mind will presume to write, read, sell, advertise, or 
puff these missiles of the pit. It is the worst kind of 
derangement or lunacy. 

"The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that 
worketh in the children of disobedience," has many agents 
in his employ.f 

A book or paper hves not only while its author hves, but 
long after the hand which wrote it has turned to dust, and 
if it is a bad book or periodical, it is one of the most 
mahgnant forces on the earth. 



* Dr. Ray, of the Butler Insane Asylum, of Providence, R. I., attributes the 
increase of insanity to " excessive indulgence in the reading of novels, which have, 
of late years, swarmed from the presses of New York, Philadelphia and Boston. 

t Let a committee be appointed to wait on ministerial writers and puffers of white 
lies, to cease their satanic agency and this work of desolation, and ruin ceases to exist — 
and not till then. 



EDUCATING LITTLE MAEY. 

BEWAEE OF THE SKRPENt's SUGAR-COATED POISONS 

POPULAR WORKS OF FICTION. 

Upon no class of persons does the habitual reading 
of this branch of our literature exert a more pernicious 
influence than upon the young men connected with 
our colleges and other institutions of learning. We 
have heard it asserted by those whose positions enable 
them to judge intelligently in this matter, that there is 
scarcely an instance on record whei'e a young man, 
who habitually and regularly peruses works of fiction 
during his undergraduate course, ever received that 
degree of mental discipline which is necessary for a 
successful entrance upon the great duties of life, and 
which it is the aim of a collegiate course to furnish. 
And, indeed, it is hard to conceive how the case should 
be otherwise ; for, besides the enormous waste of time, 
which is a necessary consequence of any considerable 
indulo-ence in novel readins:, the mind accustomed to 
follow some sentimental hero or heroine through all 
sorts of silly, unheard-of adventures, and to revel amid 
scenes of fancied pleasures and happiness, takes little 
delight in attempting to grapple with the more pro- 
found truths of philosophy and mathematics, even 
when it is not wholly incapacitated to do so. 

It is a lamentable fact, that at least half of the 
young men who graduate each year at our colleges, 
hardly possess even the rudiments of a sound and sub- 
stantial education. Many, after spending three or four 
years within the walls of a university, possess, in return 
for their time and money, little besides their ''diploma," 



A Savor of Life— A Savor of Death. 



KEADING-KOOMS, PUBLIC AND SUNDAY-SCHOOL LIBRAEIES. 

*' Good books and papers live while we are dead 
Light on the darkened mind they shed, — 
Good seed they sow from age to age, 
Through all this mortal pilgrimage ; 
They nurse the germs of holy trust, 
They wake untired when we are dust." 

Good books and papers preach ; bad books and 
papers preach. One is a savor of life to life, the other 
of death to death ! One preaches salvation, the other 
damnation ! 

Look at this subject, friends ; turn it over, view it on 
every side ; peep into Sunday-school libraries, public 
reading-rooms — what do you see ? Scorpions, adders 
that sting, serpents that bite, Satanic transformations, 
the old serpent the devil, with cloven-foot concealed ! 

Do you ask what harm books and papers will do 
tinctured with romance and folly ? The same harm 
that personal intercourse would with the bad men who 
wrote them. " That a man is known by the company 
he keeps," is an old proverb ; but it is no more true 
than that a man's character may be determined by 
knowing the books he reads. If a good book can't be 
read without making one better, a bad book cannot be 
read without making one worse. A person may be 
ruined by reading a single volume. Bad books are 



A SAVOR OF LIFE — A SAVOR OF DEATH. 

like ardent spirits, they furnish neither aliment noi- 
" medicine " — they are " poison." Both intoxicate — 
one the mind, the other the body. The thirst for eacli 
increases by being fed, and is never satisfied: both 
ruin — one the intellect, the other the health, and to- 
gether, the soul. The makers and venders of each are 
equally guilty and equally corrupters of the communi- 
ty ; and the safeguard against each is the same total 
abstinence from all that intoxicates mind or body. 

The love of fiction is a growing appetite, and one 
which generally wastes more time than any other. It 
produces a distate for healthful mental food, and a dis- 
like to strengthening mental exercise. However good 
the tone of fiction may be, or its moral, the habit of 
craving fiction, once formed, cannot be prevented from 
gratifying itself with those novels and romances of the 
day, which may well be described as " Satanic litera- 
ture." The person who enters upon a course of novel- 
reading may be said to be rapidly unfitting himself for 
a noble and useful life. Then, all this reading is posi- 
tively worse than useless. We have no faith in the 
effect of teaching moral truth by fiction. No real 
knowledge is stored by it. After reading a thousand 
novels, the youth may be still unfurnished with the 
most necessary information. 

l^othing should find lodgment for a moment in oui 
families, Sabbath-school libraries, reading-rooms, or 
on our centre-tables, but the salt of the earth, light, 
heavenly, intellectual and spiritual, life-giving, soiil- 
kindling ; such reading as elevates, purifies, and sane 



A SAVOE OF LITE — A SAVOR OF DEATH. 

tifies. Family-books and papers should be of the 
purest kind ; nothing should be introduced that tends 
in the least to pervert or corrupt the rising generation. 
It is truly painful to see in some reading-rooms popular 
works of fiction, novels, romances, and works positively 
infidel in their tendency. 

Such libraries and reading-rooms are a curse insteaa 
of a blessing to the community. Many a young man 
has been ruined for time and eternity by this corrupting 
literature. 

No book or periodical, whatever its merits in other 
respects, which takes the name of God in vain, uses it 
profanely or irreverently, which contains a profane 
oath, an impure or libidinous thought, or speaks lightly 
of the Word of God, should ever be allowed in a family 
or reading-room. A parent ought never to allow a 
fascinating writer to say that, behind the screen to the 
eye of a child, which he would not permit any one to 
breathe into the ear. 

Bj^ron, Scott, Shaksj^eare, Dickens, Beeclier, are, 
more or less, defiled by profane and impure allusions, 
dashes or exclamations, that off*end the ear of modesty 
and virtue. What Christian father or mother woul 
allow Shakspeare, if he were now alive, to associate 
with a blooming circle of sons and daughters, or read 
his plays, just as they now stand in the best editions? 
Is it possible for them to pass through the youthful 
mind and not leave a foul stain behind? Read the 
" Personal Recollections of Charlotte Elizabeth," and 
see how narrowly she escaped the loss of both body 



A SAVOR OF LIPE — ^A SAVOR OF DEATH. 

and soul by poring over Sliakspeare's corrupting 
fascinations. 

Are not editors and publishers rolling up a fearfal 
account for facilitating the circulation of these reptiles^ 
now flooding and cursing the land? Unless some 
means can be devised to arrest this rapidly-augmenting 
currency of licentious and semi-iniidel literature, its 
demoralizing effects every where manifest, we are lost ! 
lost ! Cease ? When will this curse of all curses cease, 
that poisons tlie fountains of mercy, eats out the life- 
blood of spiritual life and salvation, ushering millions 
into the gulf bottomless ? When will this death of 
deaths cease ? Never, till God in mercy opens the ej^es 
of religious editors to see the enormity of their guilt in 
offering polluted bread upon his altar ! 

'' And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil ? 
and if ye offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? 
Offer it now unto thy governor ; will he be pleased 
with thee, or accept thy person ? saith the Lord of 
hosts."— Mai. i. 7-8. 

^' O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If ye 
will not hear, arid if ye will not lay it to heart, to give 
glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will 
even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your 
blessings; yea, I have cursed them already, because ye 
do not lay it to lieart." — Mai. ii. 1-2, 

'' I hate the work of them that turn aside. He that 
worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house : he that 
telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight." — Psal. ci. 6. 

Cast your eye, if you can, beloved brother and sister, 



A SAVOR OF LIFE — ^A SAYOE OF DEATH. 

into the reading-room at the Cooper Institute — the 
" Young Men's Christian Association," in New York, 
and into libraries of a similar character in every city, 
what do you see ? Some twenty, thirty, fifty, or more 
young men and women poring over what? The good, 
the solid, the virtuous, the pure, the elevating in these 
libraries, or the froth and scum of the pit ? — the veri- 
est trash Satan could concoct. The truth is, the taste 
of very many of the rising age is already formed for 
the devilish, and after the devilish they will go. 

Bonfire, burn up one-half of the books and periodi- 
cals in these public libraries and reading-rooms — more 
yet, two-thirds at least. God of mercy, truth and love, 
speed the daj — hasten the burning, scorching, con- 
suming flames ! 



SOWING ? YES, WE ARE. 

^"^ And whatsoever a 7nau soiucth, that shall he also reap?^ — Gal. vi. 7, 

*' We are sowing, we are sowing, 
In eternity to reap ; 
Day by day are harvests growing 
For us after death's long sleep. 

*^ We are sowing, we are sowing, 

Thoughts are seeds cast in a field ; 
Every act that we are doing. 
Every word its fruit sliall yield.* 



CAN'T FOLKS AND WON'T FOLKS; 



-OE- 



Lying Folks and Folks that will lie, keep on lying. 
** Let the lying lips be put to silence.'* — Psa. xxxi. 18. 

" Can't ?" Who says you can't, friend, God or you. If 
God says you can stop lying, and you say you can't, what 
is this but making God a har ? God tell, you, Mr. Liar, 
writer, and puffer of Hes, to stop this l}dng, repent, do 
works meet for repentance. But you say " no, I can't," 
that is you ivonH ! The can't in your case means won't 
emphatically. So we understand it, so does God, and he 
will deal with you accordingly. Look out for breakers, Mr. 
Liar. 

God tells sinners that tell Kes and keep on telhng them, 
in the church and out of it, to stop lying, writing Hes, 
puffing hes, seUing lies and reading lies. Then, in the face 
and eyes of Omnipotent, merciful grace, and heavenly 
pleading, what say these same liars? "We can't stop 
lying." That is you wouH — can't means won't. God tells 
ministers that write hes for money, the accursed lust of 
gain, to stop this wicked lying and speak truth. W^hat 
now do you hear from these lying lips? "Can't?" Yes, 
that is, "we wonH ; we love money, we love popularity, 
and he we must — he we will." And is it not precisely so 
with rehgious editors who puff these same ministerial hes ? 
If teachers in Israel dressed in robes sacerdotal, tell hes 
and write hes, preach hes, what harm, pray, in religious 
edil ors doing the very same thing ! The lies that this 

248 



can't folks and won't folks. 249 

watchman on Zion's top wrote, are good, religious lies. So 
the pulpit man writes the good lies, and the good Christian 
editor takes his share of stock in this lying business. Thus 
one rehgious Har in high standing, helps on another good, 
religious Har of high distinction. When these religious 
Hars are told to stop this lying, writing and pubUshing lies, 
for mercy's sake, weepingly, what the response ? the same 
as before, " we can't, this is our every day business, it's our 
meat and our drink, our bread and our butter, what every 
body does we do, it's popular to lie, and cash is made by 
it, and we have been so long accustomed to writing and 
printing lies, it is just as natural and pleasant to us as it is 
to sit around a luxurious table and partake of a hearty meal. 
Indeed to speak truth once, we can't stop lying. We feed 
on lies, sleep on lies ; we lie down lying and rise up lying. 
We go out and come in with lies on our hps. We take our 
seat in the ministerial or editorial chair with pen in hand, 
and the first thing that pops up in our noddle is a lie, and 
we put it on paper quick ! then another and another, in 
rapid succession, and as soon as possible we send forth 
these newly concocted lies, for the good of the community 
at large. The business has become lucrative, as the pubhc 
taste is now pretty well formed or educated on fiction, or 
lies in a rehgious form, no harm is thought of it ; all classes, 
old and young, parents and children, ministers and people, 
Sunday-schools and all, go in heart and hand for these re- 
ligious Hes. And, to speak the truth again, we can't help 
going forward as we have been going, kill or no kill. Curse 
the world, little folks and big, lead them step by step into 
forbidden paths, even down to the pit of woe everlasting, 
what of it ? • If we go down to hell for writing, publishing 
and selling either white lies or black lies, wo be to millions ! 



250 can't folks and won't folks. 

We risk it any liow ; we love lying and telling Kes, and after 
them we go. To be sure we know what God says about 
liars, lies and lying, and what becomes of those who do he 
and keep on teUing hes, in Eeyelations xxi. 8 :" 

" But the feai'ful and unbeheving, and the abominable, 
and mui'derers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and 
idolaters, and all hars, shall have theii' part in the lake 
which bui'neth with fire and bnmstone : which is the second 
death." 

"Home Thrusts/' 303 West Twentietli Street, New York. 



Serpents that Bite— Adders tliat Sting! 



S^ 




*' How shall I speak thee, or thy power address, 
Thou god of our idolatry, the Press ! 
Like Eden's dread probationary Tree — 
Knowledge of good and evil is from thee !" 



ZINDLING HEAVENLY TIRES; 

- OR — 

Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Midler, 
The word of God is a fire, a sword — 

*' Where'er it enters in, 
Is sharper than a two-edged sword, 
To slay the man of sin." 

" My heart was hot within me ; while I was musing the 
fire burned ; then spake I with my tongue." — Psa, xxxix. 3. 

" His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up 
in my bones." — Jer, xx. 9. 

What blessed food for reflection is the word of God! 
Take a passage of Scripture, and dwell upon it, interweav- 
ing it with all the day's duties. Keflect upon it, and it will 
be continually developing in sweetness and power. Prayer 
and reflection will make plain what seemed obscure at first. 

George Muller, of the Orphan Asylum, Bristol, England, 
whose wonderful faith is attracting the attention of the 
whole world, to kindle heavenly fires in his own soul, has 
had recourse to this musing or meditating in the word, 
"the sword of the Spirit." He says : 

" The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words 
the Lord's blessing upon his precious word, was to begin to 
meditate on the word of God, searching, as it were, into 
every verse to get blessing out of it ; not for the sake of 
the public ministry of the word, not for the sake of preach- 
ing on what I had meditated upon, but for the sake of ob- 
taining food for my own soul. The result I have found to 

251 



252 KINDLING HEAVENLY EIRES. 

be almost invariably this : that after a very few minutes my 
soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, 
or to intercession, or to suppHcation ; so that, though 
I did not, as it were, give myseK to prayer, but to 
meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or .less 
into prayer. When thus I have been for a while making 
confession, or intercession, or supplication, or have given 
thanks, I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the 
word may lead to it, but still continually keeping before me 
that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. 
The result of this is that my inner man almost invariably 
is sensibly nourished and strengthened, and that by break- 
fast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful, if not 
happy state of heart." 

" Faith Cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of 
God." This unreserved and perpetual adherence " to the 
word and the testimony," is the secret of the faith of 
George MuUer, that has sounded out fi'om the rising sun to 
the setting thereof. And what has not this faith in the 
promise of God wrought? Reader, cast your eye upon 
those five orphan houses and the lands adjacent. Step 
into these five orphan houses — what do you behold ? 2,050 
orphans under his care, fed, clothed and educated. Con- 
sider the day-schools, Sunday-schools, schools for adults, in 
which instruction is given upon Scriptural principles, by 
teachers professing faith in the Lord Jesus. 

Look at the 150 missionaries sent out into various parts 
of the world, the thousands on thousands of Bibles going 
forth annually into the dark corners of the earth — the mil- 
lions on millions of Gospel tracts (not novels) flying on 
the wings of the wind, "leaves for the healing of the 
nations." How is this marvellous work of benevolence 



KINDLING HEAVENLY FIBES. 253 

grace and salvation, carried forward? by what means? 
How are means obtained ? By begging ? sending forth 
agents to collect funds from beHevers and unbehevers? 
By getting up a fancy fair, tea or strawberry party, a 
soiree or an oyster supper ? Or by faith and prayer, prayei 
and faith ! No being has ever been solicited for a farthing, 
but God alone. " More things are done by prayer than this 
world dreams of." Has brother Muller or his family lacked any- 
thing ? Have the thousands of orphans for thirty-eight years 
lacked food, raiment, heavenly inculcations ? Have the nu- 
merous missionaries with no stated salaries lacked anything? 

" And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, 
and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing ? And they said, 
Nothing." — Luke xxii. 35. 

" Ask and it shall be given." God stirs up the hearts of 
his people in answer to the prayer of faith to contribute. 
Donations for this " light-house," this " city set on a hill," 
have flown in from all parts of the world, from the widow's 
mite, to eight hundred pounds or more. 

Reader, here's a lesson for me, for you, for every one 
naming the name of Christ. Brother Muller tells us it's 
not for every one to build orphan houses, to do exactly what 
he is doing in the various benevolent operations, but it is 
the blessed privilege of every disciple of the Lord Jesus 
to " walk thus by faith and not by sight." 

" Trust in the LORD, and do good, so shalt thou dwell 
in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." — Psa. xxxvii. 3. 

Mr. Muller says : "I repeat here again, what has been 
stated in the previous Reports, for the sake of those who 
do not know it, that in November, 1830, I was led to give 
up my salary in connection with the ministry of the Gospel, 
and during these 35 years and 6 months I have never had 



254 KINDLING HEAVENLY FIRES. 

any salary nor other stated income, either in connection 
tvdth the ministry of the Word, or as Director of the scrip- 
tui'al knowledge institution for home and abroad. If, how- 
ever, one or the other of the readers should suppose, that, 
on that account, I have been a sufferer or loser, my reply is, 
that it has been the very reverse. The Lord, whose servant 
I am, and whom I dehght in serving, having condescended 
to employ me now for more than forty years, has amply, 
most amply, provided for me, by putting it again and again 
into the hearts of his children to give to me of their means. 
Had I with never so much earnestness sought to provide 
well for myseK, I should not, in all hmnan probabihty, have 
succeeded half as well, as God, without my seeking, has 
done it for me. I take pleasui^e in bearing this testimony 
for God, to the honor of His name. But I cannot send 
this forth, without again cautioning any who may read it, 
agamst doing the same by way of imitation. Let any one 
trust in God, as I by His grace did, and have Scriptui^al 
warrant for doing so ; and the Lord will surely honor this 
confidence in Himself ; but, as assuredly as any one pro- 
fesses to trust in God, his profession of faith will be tested, 
and greatly tested, even as mine was ; and then it will be 
soon seen, whether the trust in God is real or not. ^^Hien 
I took this step, in November, 1830, I determined, really, 
truly, solely, habitually, by God's help, to look to Him, and 
under no ch'cumstances, either directly or indirectly, to 
make known my present position, however needy, to my 
fellow men, in order that the hand of God might be seen, 
when He helped. In this way I have continued ever since ; 
and, by the help of God, purpose to continue to the end of 
my course. Now, because many, who have professed to look 
to the Lord alone for their temporal supphes, have failed in 



KINDLING HEAVENLY FIRES. 255 

this, and have made their wants known to their fellow men, 
to induce them to help them, they have thus failed in ob- 
taining the wholesome food for their faith, and their faith 
has become weaker instead of stronger. But, further, no 
one, I judge, can be truly happy in such a path, except he 
be content, to the end of his course, to remain only a 
steward for God ; so that, if he be intrusted by Him wdth 
more than he needs, he be wilhng to give it back to God, 
who gave it to him. Let these two points be carried out, 
in an humble prayerful state of heart, and happy and 
blessed will that servant of God be. All whom I have 
known to have acted thus, have, without a single exception, 
done well ; but those, who merely said that they trusted in 
God, without doing it, and who therefore did not act as 
stated above, sooner or later broke down. God looks for 
reahty. Faith may be weak at first, but it must be real. 

" The reader Avho desires to know further particulars as 
to the reasons which led me into this course of hfe, will 
find them in my Narrative, Part I, pages 68 and 69." 



No Contracting Debts. 

*' Owe no man anything but love." 

Mr. Muller goes on to say in his last Eeport (18^1) : 
" As from the beginning, so now also, we would under no 
circumstances contract debts, but act according to God's 
mind, by first obtaining the needed means for the contem- 
plated enlargement ; for if ive are the persons through 
whom God mil do His work, and if His time has come for 
us to do His work, He will certainly, in answer to believing 
prayer, give to us the needed pecuniary means. 



256 KINDLING HEAVENLY EIRES. 

" With regard to pecuniary supplies to carry on the 
yarious operations in connection with the Institution, Ave 
have obtained from the beginning above five hundred thous- 
and pounds, as the result of prayer and faith, which, we 
trust, is a plain proof, that waiting upon God for means is 
not in vain. It also shows, that the work of God may be 
carried on, on the above principles, not only whilst small, 
but when it is large, yea very large. 

" The reader, who is unacquainted with the previous 
Reports, may ask, And what has been accomplished, 
through the five hundred thousand pounds, which have 
come in for this Institution ? To such our answer is : 
Twenty-three thousand children, or grown-up persons, 
have been taught in the various schools, entirely supported 
by the funds of the Institution, besides the tens of thous- 
ands who have been benefited in the schools, which were 
assided by its funds ; more than sixty-four thousand Bibles, 
eighty-five thousand Testaments, and one hundred thousand 
smaller portions of the Holy Scriptures, in various lan- 
guages, have been circulated since the formation of the 
Institution ; and thirty-nine millions of tracts and books, 
likewise in several different languages, have been circulated. 
There have been, hkewise, from the earliest days of this 
Institution, missionaries assisted by its funds, and of late 
years more than one hundred and fifty in number. On this 
object alone above one hundred and four thousand pounds 
have been expended from the beginning. Also 3575 orphans 
have been under our care, and five large houses, at an ex- 
pense of one hundred and fifteen thousand pounds, have 
been erected and fitted up, for the accommodation of 2050 
orphans. As to the spiritual results, I wiU here say noth- 
ing ; mdeed eternity alone can unfold them ; yet, even in so 



KINDLING HEAVENLY FIRES. 257 

far as God has been pleased to allow us to see already the 
results of our service, we have reaped most abundantly, 
and do so more and more with every year, whilst going on 
in the work. 

" The fourth object of the Institution is, the circulation of 
such publications as may be calculated, with the blessing 
of God, to benefit both behevers and unbeHevers. As it 
respects tracts for unbelievers, I especially aim after the dif- 
fusion of such, as contain the truths of the Gospel clearly 
and simply expressed ; and as it respects publications for 
believers, I desire to circulate such as may be instrumental 
in directing their miads to those truths which, in these last 
days, are more especially needed, or which have been par- 
ticularly lost sight of, and may lead believers to return to 
the written Word of God. 

" There has been laid out for this object, from May 26, 
1870, to May 26, 1871, the sum of ^£917 15s. Id.; and there 
have been circulated within the last year more than two mil- 
hons and eight hundred and seventy-two thousand (exactly 
2,872,301) tracts and books. The sum total which has 
been expended on this object, since November 19, 1840, 
amounts to ^19,837 19s. 0|d. 

" The total number of all the tracts and books, which have 
been circulated since Nov. 19, 1840, is about thirty-nine 
milHons (exactly 38,893,712). 

" More than two millions three hundred and eighty-three 
thousand of the tracts and books, circulated during the past 
year, were given away gratuitously. Hundreds of behevers 
have been engaged in spreadiag them abroad, not merely in 
many parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, but in 
various other parts of the world. I give now, as an 
encouragement for this service, the following extracts from 



258 KINDLING HEAVENLY FIKES, 

letters received from individuals to whom these tract-s 
were sent. (These extracts unintentionally omitted.) 

" For the sake of younger behevers in Christ, I make the 
following remarks with reference to their service in seeking 
to circulate the Holy Scriptures and tracts : 

"What, then, have we to do as Tract or Bible distributors ? 
1. Never to reckon our success by the number of Bibles, or 
Testaments, or Tracts, which we circulate ; for millions of 
Bibles, Testaments and Tracts might be circulated, and 
httle good result from our efforts. 2. We should, day by 
day, seek God's blessing on our labors in this particular ; 
and on every tract or copy of the Holy Scriptures which we 
give, we should, as much as possible, ask God's blessing. 
3. We should expect God's blessing upon our labors, and 
confidently expect it ; yea, look out for His blessing. 4. We 
should labor on in this service, prayerfully and behevingiy 
labor on, even though for a long time we should see httle or 
no fruit ; yea, we should labor on, as if eyerj thing depended 
on our labors, whilst, in reahty, we ought not to put the 
least confidence in our exertions, but alone in God's abihty 
and willingness to bless, by His Holy Spirit, our efforts for 
the sake of the Lord Jesus. 5. And what will be the 
result of laboring on patiently in such a spirit ? We find 
the answer in the epistle to the Gallatians vi. 9 : ' Let us 
not be weary in well-doing ; for for in due season we shall 
reap, if we faint not.' Observ^e, in due season. The whole 
of our earthly pilgiimage is a sowing time, though we may 
be allowed to see now and then, akeady in this life, fruit 
resulting from our sowing to a gi'eater or less degree ; but 
if it were not thus, or if compai'atively but httle fiiiit were 
now, in this life, reaped, the due season is coming. At the 
appearing of our Lord Jesus all will be made manifest ; our 



KINDLING HEAVENLY FIRES. 259 

reward of grace will be given to us for our patient service 
then ; and in the prospect of that day we have patiently to 
continue in well-doing. But this patient continuing in well- 
doing calls for much prayer, for much meditation on the 
Word of God, and for much feeding on the work and person 
of our Lord Jesus, in order that thus our spiritual strength 
may be renewed day by day. 

" Tract distributors who can afford to pay for publications, 
and who desire to procure them from us, may obtain Tracts 
for this purpose with a discount of one-haK, or 50 per cent, 
from the retail price, and Books vdth a discount of 25 per 
cent, or one-fourth from the retail price. I state this, as 
many believers may not hke to give away what does not 
cost them anything, and yet may, at the same time, wish to 
obtain as much as possible, for their money. Applications 
for this would need to be made verbally or in writing to 
Mr. James L. Stanley, at the Bible and Tract Warehouse, 
No. 34 Park-street, Bristol. To him, also, apphcation may 
be made for specimen packets, containing an assortment of 
the tracts and small books which are kept. By sending 
3s,, 5s., 7s., or 10s. in postages to Mr. Stanley, packets will 
be sent to any part of England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, 
Jersey, Guernsey, etc., containing specimens to the amount 
of the postages which are sent. 

" A catalogue of the various books and tracts sold at the 
above Warehouse of the Institution, with their prices, may 
be had there, by applying either personally or by letter to 
Mr. Stanley. There are now kept on sale 950 different 
books, large and small ; and 773 different tracts, which 
number is continually added to. During the last year many 
new books and tracts were introduced. 

5. The fifth object of the Institution is, to board, clothe, 



260 KINDLING HKWENLY FIRES. 

and Scripturally educate destitute ehildi'en who have lost 
both pai-ents by death. 

" At the commencemeiit of the last period there were 1722 
oi-phans in the New Oi3)han Houses No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, 
No. 4, and No. 5. During the past year 308 oiphans were 
admitted into the five houses now in operation ; so that the 
total number on May 26, 1871, would have been 2080, had 
there been no changes ; but, of these 2030, twent\^-nine died 
duiing the past year. This number of deaths is exceedingly 
small, if it be remembered that thi-ee-fourths of aU the 
orphans under our cai^e lost one or both pai^ents in con- 
sumption, which we know fi'om the official certificates ; and, 
especially, that we had several hundred of the oi^phans ill in 
scai'let fever. Eight of those who died were decidedly 
resting upon the atoning death of the Lord Jesus for salva- 
tion, and some of them had known the Lord a good while ; 
of a few othei^, besides, we were not without hope. Twenty- 
five out of the two thousand and thiiiy were either returned 
to theii^ relatives, as we could not train them for sei-vice or 
apprentice them on account of theii' physical, mental or 
moral state ; or relatives, whose temporal circumstances had 
imj)roved since they placed them with us, desired now, or 
felt it their duty, to pro^ide for them. Ninety-nine gii^ls 
were sent out for serrice, eight of whom had known the 
Lord some time, before thev left. Thiiiv-two bovs were 
sent out to be apprenticed, seventeen of whom had been 
previously brought to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus ; 
185 are therefore to be deducted fi'om the 2030, so that we 
had on May 26, 1871, only 1845 orphans under our care, 
viz., 280 in No. 1, 356 in No. 2, 450 in No. 3, 450 in No. 4, 
and 309 in No. 5. The total number of oiphans, who have 
been under our cai^e, since April 11, 1836, is 3575. 



KINDLING HEAVENLY FIBES. 261 

"I notice further the following points respecting the 
orphan work : 

"1. The girls, who are receired into the estabhshment, are 
kept till they are able to go to service. Our aim is to keep 
them till they shall have been sufficiently qualified for a 
situation, and, especially also, till their constitution is suf- 
ficiently established, as far as we are able to judge. We 
uniformly prefer fitting the giiis for service, instead of 
apprenticing them to a business, as being, generally, far 
better for their bodies and souls. Only in a few instances 
have female orphans been apprenticed to businesses, when 
their health would not allow them to go to service. If the 
girls give us satisfaction, while under our care, so that we 
can recommend them to a situation, they are fitted out at 
the expense of the estabhshment. The girls, generally, 
remain under our care till they are about 17 years old. 
They very rarely leave sooner ; and, as we receive children 
from their earliest days, we have often had girls 13, 14, yea, 
above 17 years under our care. They are instructed in 
reading, writing, aiithmetic, Enghsh grammar, geography, 
English history, a httle of universal history, all kinds of 
useful needlework and household work. They make their 
clothes and keep them in repair ; they work in the kitchens, 
sculleries, wash-houses and laundries ; and, in a word, we 
aim, after this, that, if any of them do not do well tempo- 
rally or spiritually, and do not turn out useful members 
of society, it shall at least not be our fault. The boys are, 
generally, apprenticed when they are between 14 and 15 
years old. But m each case we consider the welfare of the 
individual orphan, without having any fixed rule respecting 
these matters. The boys have a free choice of the trade 
they hke to learn ; but^ having once chosen, and ))eing 



262 KINDLING HEAVENLY FIRES. 

apprenticed, we do not allow them to alter. The boys, ag 
well as the giiis, have an outfit provided for them ; and any 
other expenses, that may be connected with thek appren- 
ticeship, are also met by the funds of the Oi-phan Estabhsh- 
ment. It may be interesting to the reader to kQow the 
kind of trades to which we generally apprentice the boys, 
and I therefore say, that, duiing the last twenty-tAYO yeai's, 
all the boys who were apprenticed, were bound to caipen- 
ters, or cai^^enters and joiners, cabinet makers, basket 
makers, shoe makers, tailors and di'apers, plumbers, painters 
and glaziers, hnen drapers, piiaters, bakers, grocers, hair- 
dressers, ironmongers, tin-plate workers, confectioners, 
hosiers, builders, millers, gasfitters, smiths, outfitters, pro- 
vision dealers, sail makers, upholsterers, wholesale grocers, 
chemists, seed merchants, umbrella makers, or electro plate 
manufactui'ers. The boys have the same kind of mental cul- 
tivation as the guis, and they learn to knit and mend their 
stockings. They also make thek beds, clean their shoes, 
sciTib thek rooms, go eiTands, and work in the gai'den 
ground round the Or^Dhan Estabhshment, in the way of 
digging, planting, weeding, etc. 

" 2. Without any sectaiian distinction whatever, and with- 
out favor or partiahty, the oi-phans are received in the order 
in which ajyplication is made for them. There is no interest 
whatever reqmred to get a child admitted, nor is it expected 
that any money should be paid with the oi'phans. Three 
things only are requisite : a, that the childi'en should have 
been lawfully begotten ; b, that they should be bereaved of 
both parents by death ; and c, that they should be in needy 
circumstances. Eespecting these thi-ee points, strict investi- 
gation is made, and it is expected that each of them be 
proved by proper documents ; but that being done, children 



KINDLING HEAVENLY FIRES. 263 

may be admitted from any place, provided that there is 
nothing pecuhar in. the case that would make them unsuit- 
able inmates for such estabhshments as the New Orphan 
Houses. I state here again, that no sectarian views prompt 
me, or even in the least influence me, in the reception of 
children. I do not belong to any sect, and I am not, there- 
fore, influenced in the admission of orphans, by sectarian- 
ism ; but from wheresoever they come, and to whatsoever 
rehgious denomination the parents may have belonged, or 
with whatever religious body the persons making application 
may be connected, it makes no difference in the admission 
of the children. The new ophan houses on Ashley Down, 
Bristol, are not my orphan houses, nor the orphan houses 
of any party or sect ; but they are God's orphan houses, and 
the orphan houses for any and every destitute orphan who 
has lost both parents, provided, of course, there be room in 
them. — I particularly request that persons would kindly 
refram from applying for children who only virtually are 
orphans, but who have not lost both parents by dealh, as I 
shall be obliged to refuse them admission, without exception ; 
since this orphan-work has been from the beginning only 
for destitute children who have neither father nor mother, 

" 3. The New Orphan House No. 1 is fitted up for the 
accommodation of 140 orphan girls above eight years of 
age, 80 orphan boys above eight years, and 80 female 
orphans from their earHest days, tiU they are about eight 
years of age. The infants, after having passed the age of 
eight years, are removed into the department for older girls. 
The New Orphan House No. 2 is fitted up for 200 uifant 
female orphans, and for 200 older female orphans. The 
New Orphan House No. 3 is fitted up for 450 older female 
oi-phans. The New Orphan House No. 4 is fitted up for 



264 KINDLING HEAVENLY PIKES. 

210 boys of eight years old and upwards, 208 infant boys 
under eight years of age, and 32 older girls, to do the house- 
hold work— 450 in all. The New Orphan House No. 5 is 
fitted up for 210 infant female orphans, and for 240 older 
female orphans. 

"4. The New Orphan House No. 1 is open to visitors 
every Wednesday afternoon, the New Orphan House 
No. 2 every Tuesday afternoon, the New Orphan House 
No. 3 every Thursday afternoon, the New Orphan House 
No. 4 every Friday afternoon, and the New Orphan House 
No. 5 every Saturday afternoon ; but the arrangements of 
the estabHshments make it needful, that they should be 
shown at those times only. No exceptions can be made. — 
The fii'st party of visitors will be shown through the houses 
at half-past two o'clock, God permitting ; the second at 
three o'clock ; and, should there be need for it, the third 
and last party at half -past three o'clock. — As it takes at least 
one hour and a half to see the whole of each estabhshment, 
it is requested that the visitors will be pleased to make their 
arrangements accordingly before they come, as it would be 
inconvenient should one or the other leave, before the whole 
party has seen the house. — From March 1st to Nov. 1st 
there may be three parties shown through the houses every 
"Wednesday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday after- 
noon ; but from Nov. 1st to March 1st two parties only, at 
half-past two and three o'clock, can be accommodated, ou 
account of the shortness of the days. 

" 5. Persons who desire to make appUcation for the admis- 
sion of orphans, are requested to write to me and address 
the letter to my house, No. 21 Paul-street, Kingsdown, 
Bristol, England. 

" 6. 1 again state, as regards the funds, that the income for 



KINDLING HEAVENLY FIRES. 265 

the orphans has been kept distinct from that for the other 
objects, and I purpose to keep it so for the future. Donors 
may therefore contribute to one or other of the objects 
exclusively, or have their donations equally divided among 
them all, just as it may appear best to themselves. If any 
of the donors would wish to leave the apphcation of their 
donations to my discretion, as the work of God in my hands 
more especially may call for it at the time, they are requested, 
kindly to say so, when sending their donations. 

" 7. Without any one having been personally applied to for 
anything by me, the sum of i2349,342 6s. l|d. has been 
given to me for the orphans, as the result of prayer to God, 
since the commencement of the work, which sum includes 
the amount received for the building fund for the five 
houses. It may also be interesting to the reader to know 
that the total amount, which has been given for the other 
objects, since the commencement of the work, amounts to 
j£140,205 13s. 8|d. ; and that which has come in by the 
sale of Bibles, since the commencement, amounts to 
^£4,806 16s. 9id. ; by the sale of Tracts, £9,931 10s. lOJd. : 
and by the payment of the children in the day schools, from 
the commencement, £3,62 1 13s. l|d. Besides this, also, 
a great variety and number of articles of clothing, furni- 
ture, provisions, etc., have been given for the use of the 
orphans. 

" The average expense of one orphan, during the past year, 
was £12 lis. 6d. This includes every expense, without 
exception. 

" Having been often asked for a form how to leave a legacy 
for the orphan work, or any other part of the Institution, I 
think it weU to give here a proper form drawn up by a legal 
practitioner, accustomed to such matters. 



266 KINDLING HEAVENLY FIEES. 

*' Form of a Legacy for the orphan work.— *' I give to George Miiller 
of Bristol, or such other person or persons as shall, when this legacy- 
shall become payable, be the director or directors of the New Orphan 
Houses on Ashley Down, Bristol, the sum of , to be paid 

out of such part of my personal estate as shall be legally applicable 
thereto ; and to be applied by the said George Miiller, or such other 
director or directors for the purpose of such New Orphan Houses, 
and his or their receipt shall be a sufficient discharge to my 
executors.'* 

" To avoid mistakes, delays, and other difficulties, I would 
request that all letters for me should be directed to my 
house. No. 21 Paul-street, Kingsdown, Bristol, England. 

Bristol, July 21, 1871. GEORGE MULLER." 



Lamps do not talk — they simply shine. A hghthouse 
sounds no dnma, it beats no gong, and yet far over the 
waters its friendly spark is seen by the mariner. So should 
it be with rehgion, which should be proclaimed and made 
known by its quiet works rather than by loud or frequent 
protestations. 

" Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be 
seen of them : otherwise ye have no reward of your Father 
which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, 
do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hj^ocrites do, in 
the synagogues, and in the streets, that they may have glory 
of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. 
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what 
thy right hand doeth ; that thine alms may be in secret : 
and thy Father which seeth in secret, himself shall reward 
fchee openly." — Math. vi. 1-5. 



KINDLING HEAVENLY PIEES.-cNo. 2.) 



*' Bead the Bible ; it will point you 
To bright scenes of bliss on high, 
Where there's rest for all the weary, 
And our loved ones never die." 

The Bible holds the first place among the means of 
implanting and promoting di^dne life in the sonl ; and the 
Christian who fails to keep in some way the great truths of 
the Bible steadily before his mind, will find the vigor of his 
graces departing. No other reading will serve as a sub- 
stitute for reading the Bible. No other study or meditation 
will answer the purpose of the word of Christ, dwelling in 
us richly in all wisdom. If we look for rehgion to be re- 
vived, our expectation will be reahzed, only by the mind of 
the Church being brought in steadier contact with the hvely 
oracles. ^ATien the Christian mind awakes from its com- 
parative coldness to a higher state of vitahty and devoted- 
ness, the word of God invariably does the work of an in- 
strument of the quickening. And when conviction of sin, 
and those struggles of mind which are wont to precede con- 
version, are experienced by the impenitent, it is the contents 
of the Bible which have introduced them ; and that rehgi- 
ous experience which holds the Bible at a distance, or that 
does not stand immediately connected T\dth some fact or 
principle of the di\dne word, is spmious. 

The habitual reading of the Bible, joined with praj-erfid 
meditations, becomes then a duty of the first importance. 
That eminently devoted and faithful servant of Christ, Cot- 
ton Mather, bom 1762, to kindle heavenly fii^es in his soul 

2G7 



268 KINDLING HEAVENLY FIKES. 

resorted to a method similar to that of George Midler, 
musing and meditating in God's word, prayerfully, till his 
whole being was gospehzed. Christ was ever present with 
him — "The way, the truth, and the Ufe." "The fairest 
among ten thousand, and the one altogether lovely." He 
says : " The thoughts of Christ are become exceedingly 
frequent with me; I meditate on His glorious Person, as the 
eternal and the incarnate Son of God : and I behold the 
infinite God as coming to me, and meeting with me in this 
blessed meditation. I fly to Him on multitudes of occasions 
eveiy day, and am impatient if many minutes have passed 
without some recourse to Him. Every now and then I re- 
buke myself for having been so long without any thoughts 
of my Saviour ; how can I bear to keep at such a distance 
from Him ? I then look up to him, and say, O my Saviour? 
draw near unto me ! O, come to dwell in my soul, and 
help me to cherish some thoughts wherein I shall enjoy 
Thee ; and upon this I set myself to think of what He has 
done, (is doing,) and what He will do, for me : I find the 
subject inexhaustible, and after I have been thus employed 
in the day, I fall asleep at night in the midst of some medi- 
tation on the glory of my Saviour ; so I fall asleep in Jesus, 
and when I awake in the night, I do on my bed ' seek Him 
whom my soul loveth ;' (on awaking) the desires of my 
soul still carry me to Him who was last in my thoughts 
when I fell asleep.'' 

" Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright ; for the 
end of that man is peace." — Fsa. xxxvii. 37. 

** The chamber where the good man meets his fate, 
Is privileged above the common walks of Hfe, 
Quite on the verge of heaven." 




Josiah, in his Kingly Robes. 



He was lovely and Godfearing from a child. In reforma- 
tory measures he exceeded his great and good grandfather 
Hezekiah. 

" Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and 
he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem : And he 
did that which was right in the sight of the LOED, and 
walked in all the ways of Da\id his father, and turned not 
aside to the right hand, or to the left." — 2 Kings xxii. 2. 

When the book of the law was found dusted over, he 
wept, rent his clothes. He saw at a glance why the whole 
head was sick, the whole heart faint, why the curse of God 
rested upon the whole nation. 

" And it came to pass when the king had heard the 
words of the book of the Law, that he rent his clothes." 
What now ? continue to He in sackcloth and weep ? Nay, 
but up and on — turn and overtm^n, cast out Satan here, 
cast out Satan there, smash idols and grind them to powder 
here, smash idols and grind them to powder there ! O ! for 
such rulers, such ministers, to " rise up against evil-doers, 

269 



270 JOSIAH IN HIS KINGLY EOBES. 

stand up against the workers of iniquity," fire, liammer and 
sword men, to stonn the fort of Satan, load and fire, load 
and fire ! "\Miere are they ? Echo cries, " "\Miere ?" 

No king set himself more earnestly to destroy every yes- 
tige of idolatry out of the land. Among other things, he 
defiled the altars of the idols at Bethel, by burning upon 
them the bones from the tombs of their deceased priests ; 
as had been foretold more than three centuries before. — 
1 Kings xiii. 2. 

^Mierever the Law was read, enforced, treasured in 
honest hearts, there was fight, hope, peace, prosperity. The 
very Heaven of heavens smiled, and shed down its richest 
fragrance. Then- barns were filled with plenty, their presses 
burst vrith new wine ; fear fell upon the nations round 
about, and even thek enemies were at peace with them, and 
brought them presents. 

'\^Tien the holy Scriptures were laid aside, dusted over, 
forgotten, or neglected, what now? Darkness, spiritual 
death, idolatiy, superstition, will-worship. The whole head 
was sick, the whole heart faint. It was so then, it is so now. 

** The worth of truth no tongue can tell, 
'Twill do to buy but not to sell ; 
A large estate that soul has got, 
Who buj^s the truth, and sells it not." * 



* How was this eminent Bible reformer educated, on what kind of mental food was 
he nourished or fed ? chaff, husks, swine's food ? novels, romances — " Little Corporal," 
" Mother Goose," "The House that Jack Built ?" Satan as yet, had not so much as 
dreamed of this hellish stratagem to ruin souls. " As is the tree, so is the fruit." 

" Happy the soul that reads the page 
That guides our youth and cheers our age ; 
Yea, blessed evermore is he, 
O Lord, who learns to come to thee." 



LiaHT undeh a bushel -not on a candlestick ; 

OE 

Yoking Believers with Unbelievers, Christ with Belial! 

Is this Bible ? " Ye are the light of the world. A city 
that is set on an hill cannot be hid," saith the Lord of 
glory to his disciples. " Neither do men hght a candle and 
put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick ; and it giveth 
light unto all that are in the house. Let your hght so 
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and 
glorify your father which is m heaven." — 3Iat. v. 15, 16. 

Jesus says : " I spake openly to the w^orld and in 

secret have I said nothing." — John x^dii. 20. 

Why not be content and follow the Master ? '"' For ye 
were sometimes darkness, but now are ye hght in the Lord : 
walk as children of light." — Ejjh. v. 8. '' What I tell you 
in darkness that speak ye in hght." 

Then again, Christian fiiends, why yoke yourselves with 
unbehevers, enemies of the cross of Christ ? Is this Bible ? 

*' Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbehevers : 
for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteous- 
ness? and what communion hath hght with darkness? 
And what concord hath Christ mth Behal ? or what ^^art 
hath he that beheveth, Tsdth an infidel ? And what agree- 
ment hath the temple of God with idols ? for ye are the 
temple of the hving God, as God hath said, I will dwell in 
them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they 
shall be my people. Wlierefore come out fi'om among them, 
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the un- 

271 



272 LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. 

clean thing, and I will receive you. And will be a Father 
unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the 
Lord Almighty."— 2 Cor. vi. 14-18. 

Under the Mosaic economy, we learn the same moral 
principle. " Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers 
seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and 
the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. Thou shalt not plough 
with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a 
garment of divers sorts, as of woolen and hnen together." — 
Deut xxii. 9-11 ; Lev. xix. 19. 

These Scriptures will suffice to set forth the moral evil of 
an miequal yoke. It may, with full confidence, be asserted 
that no one can be an unshackled follower of Christ who is, 
in any way, " unequally yoked." 

Get your neck out of this unequal yoke, else how be re- 
ceived ? God cannot fully and pubhcly own those who are 
unequally yoked together with unbehevers, for, were He to 
do so, it would be an acknowledgment of the unequal yoke. 
He cannot acknowledge "darkness," "unrighteousness," 
" Behal," " idols," and " an infidel." How could he ? Hence, 
if I yoke myseK with any of these, I am morally and pub- 
hcly identified with them, and not with God. at aU. I have 
put myself into a position which God cannot own, and, as 
a consequence, He cannot own me ; but if I withdraw 
myseK from that position — if I " come out and be separate" 
— if I take my neck out of the unequal yoke, then, but not 
until then, can I be pubhcly and fully received and owned 
as a "son or daughter of the Lord Almighty." 

This is a solemn and searching principle for aU who feel 
that they have unhappily gotten themselves into such a yoke. 
They are not v/alking as disciples, nor are they publicly 
or morally on the ground of sons. God cannot own them 



LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. 273 

Their secret relationship is not the point ; but they have 
put themselves thoroughly off God's ground. They have 
foohshly thrust their neck into a yoke which, inasmuch as 
it is not Christ's yoke, must be Belial's yoke ; and until 
they cast off that yoke, God cannot own them as His sons 
and daughters. 

Now, there are four distinct phases in which "the unequal 
yoke" may be contemplated, viz., the domestic, the com- 
mercial, the rehgious, and the philanthropic. Some may be 
disposed to confine 2 Cor. vi. 14, to the first of these ; but 
the apostle does not so confine it. The words are, " be not 
unequally yoked together with unbeHevers." He does not 
specify the character or object of the yoke, and therefore 
we are warranted in giving the passage its widest apphca- 
tion, by bringing its edge to bear directly upon every phase 
of the unequal yoke ; and we shall see the importance of 
so doing, ere we close these remarks, if the Lord permit. 

L And, first, then, let us consider the domestic or mar- 
riage yoke. What pen can portray the mental anguish, the 
moral misery, together with the ruinous consequences, as to 
spiritual life and testimony, flowing from a Christian's mar- 
riage with an unconverted person ? I suppose nothing can 
be more deplorable than the condition of one who discovers, 
when it is too late, that he has linked himself for hfe with 
one who cannot have a single thought or feeling in common 
with him. One desires to serve Christ ; the other can only 
serve the devil : one breathes after the things of God ; the 
other sighs for the things of this present world : the one 
earnestly seeks to mortify the flesh, with all its affections, 
and desires; the other only seeks to minister to and gratify 
these very things. Like a sheep and a goat, hnked together, 
the sheep longs to feed on the green pasture in the field 



274 LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. 

wliile, on the other hand, the goat craves the brambles which 
grow on the ditch. The sad consequence is that both are 
starved. One will not feed on the pasture, and the other 
cannot feed upon the brambles, and thus neither gets what 
his nature craves, unless the goat, by superior strength, 
succeeds in forcing liis unequally-yoked companion to re- 
main amongst the brambles, there to languish and die. 

The moral of this is plain enough ; and, moreover, it is 
alas ! of but too common occmrence. The goat generally 
succeeds in gaining his end. The worldly i)artner carries 
his or her point, in almost every instance. It will be found, 
almost without exception, that, in cases of the unequal mar- 
riage yoke, the poor Christian is the sufferer, as is evidenced 
by the bitter fruits of a bad conscience, a depressed heart, 
a gloomy spirit, and a desponding mind. A heavy price, 
sm'ely, to pay for the gratification of some natural affection, 
or the attainment, it may be, of some paltry worldly advan- 
tage. In fact, a marriage of this kind is the death-knell 
of practical Christianity, and of progress in the divine hfe. 
It is morally impossible that any one can be an unfettered 
disciple of Christ with his neck m the marriage yoke with 
an unbehever. As weU might a racer in the Olym^Dic or 
Isthmsean games have expected to gain the crown of ^dctory 
by attaching a heavy weight or a dead body to his person. 

Then, as to its effect upon children, it is equally sad. 
These are almost sure to flow in the current with the uncon- 
verted parent. " Their children spoke half in the speech 
of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but 
according to the language of each jDCople." There can be 
no union of heart in the training of the children ; no joint 
and mutual confidence in reference to them. One desires 
to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 



LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. 275 

Lord ; the other desires to bring them up in the principles 
of the world, the flesh, and the devil : and as all the sym- 
pathies of the children, as they * grow up, are hkely to be 
ranged on the side of the latter, it is easy to see how it will 
end. In short, it is an unseemly, unscriptural, and vain 
effort to plough with an " unequal yoke," or to " sow the 
ground with mingled seed;" and all must end in sorrow and 
confusion. 

n. We shall now consider "the unequal yoke," in its 
commercial phase, as seen in cases of partnership in busi- 
ness. This, though not so serious an aspect of the yoke as 
that which we have just been considering, inasmuch as it 
can be more easily got rid of, will, nevertheless, be found a 
very positive barrier to the believer's testimony. When a 
Christian yokes himself, for business pmposes, with an un- 
behever — ^whether that unbeliever be a relative or not — or 
when he becomes a member of a worldly firm, he virtually 
surrenders his individual responsibihty. Henceforth the 
acts of the firm become his acts, and it is perfectly out of 
the question to think of getting a worldly fii^m to act on 
heavenly principles. They would laugh at such a notion, 
inasmuch as it would be an effectual barrier to the success 
of their commercial schemes. They will feel perfectly fi^ee 
to adopt a number of expedients in carrying on their busi- 
ness, which would be quite opposed to the spirit and prin- 
ciples of the kingdom in which he is, and of the Church of 
which he forms a part. Thus he will find himself constantly 
in a most trying position. He may use his influence to 
clmstianize the mode of conducting affairs ; but they will 
compel him to do business as others do, and he has no 
remedy save to mourn in secret over his anomalous and 
difficult position, or else to go out at great pecuniary loss 



276 LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. 

to himself and his family. ^Hiere the eye is single, there 
will be no hesitation as to which of these alternatives to 
adopt ; but, alas ! the very fact of getting into such a posi- 
tion proves the lack of a single eye ; and the fact of being 
in it argues the lack of spiritual capacity to appreciate the 
value and power of the divine principles which would in- 
fallibly bring a man out of it. A man whose eye was single 
could not possibly yoke himself with an unbehever for the 
purpose of making money. Such an one could only set, as 
an object before his mind, the dkect glory of Christ ; and 
this object could never be gained by a positive transgression 
of di\ine principle. 

This makes it very simple. If it does not gloiify Christ 
for a Chiistian to become a partner in a worldly fii'm, it 
must, without doubt, fm'ther the designs of the devil. There 
is no middle ground ; but that it does not glorify Christ is 
manifest, for his word says, " be not unequally yoked to- 
gether with unbehever s." Such is the principle which can- 
not be infi'inged without damage to the testimony, and for- 
feitiu'e of spiiitual blessing. TiTie, the conscience of a 
Christian, who transgresses in this matter, may seek rehef 
in various ways — may have recourse to various subterfuges 
—may set forth various arguments to persuade itseK that 
aU is right. It will be said that, " we can be very devoted 
and very spiritual, so far as we are personally concerned, 
even though we are yoked, for business purposes, with an 
unbehever." This will be found fallacious, when brought 
to the test of the actual practice. A servant of Christ will 
find himself hampered in a hundred ways by his worldly 
partnership. If in matters of service to Christ he is not 
met with open hostihty, he wiU have to encounter the 
enemy's secret and constant effort to damp his ardor, and 



LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. 277 

throw cold water on all his schemes. He will be laughed 
at and despised — ^he will be continually reminded of the 
effect which his enthusiasm and fanaticism will produce in 
reference to the business prospects of the firm. If he uses 
his time, his talents, or his pecuniary resources, in what he 
beHeves to be the Lord's service, he will be pronounced a 
fool or a madman, and reminded that the true, the proper 
way for a commercial man to serv^e the Lord is to " attend 
to business, and nothing but business." A man must be 
either the one or the other. If I am a Christian, my Chris- 
tianity must show itself, as a living reahty, in that in which 
I am ; and if it cannot show itseK there, I ought not to be 
there ; for, if I continue in a sphere or position in which 
the hfe of Christ cannot be manifested, I shall speedily pos- 
sess nought of Christianity but the name, without the 
reality — the outward form without the inward power — the 
sheU without the kernel. I should be the servant of Christ, 
not merely on Sunday, but from Monday morning to Satur- 
day night. I should not only be a servant of Christ in the 
public assembly, but also in my place of business, whatever 
it may happen to be. But I cannot be a proper servant of 
Christ with my neck in the yoke with an unbehever ; for 
how could the servants of two hostile masters work in the 
same yoke ? It is utterly impossible ; as well might one at- 
tempt to hnk the sun's meridian beams with the profound 
darkness of midnight. 

For want of space we are obliged to omit the third item, 
the rehgious phase of the unequal yoke, and come directly 
and lastly to what is termed the philanthropic phase of the 
unequal yoke. Many will say, "I quite admit that we 
ought not to mingle ourselves with positive unbehevers in 
the worship or service of God ; but, then, we can fi-eely 



278 LIGHT UNBEK A BUSHEL. 

unite A\dtli sucli for the totherance of objects of pliilan- 
tliropj — such, for iiistance, as feeding the liungiy, clothing 
the naked, reclaiming the ^dcious, in pro^'iding asylums for 
the blind and the lunatic, hospitals and infiiTaaries for the 
sick and infirm, places of refuge for the homeless and house- 
less, the fatherless and the widow ; and, in shoil;, for the 
fiu'therance of ever^-thing that tends to promote the ameh- 
oration of our fellow creatures, physically, morally, and 
intellectually." 

This, at first sight, seems fair enough ; for I may be 
asked, if I would not help a man, by the road-side, to get 
his cart out of the ditch ? I reply, certainly ; but if I were 
asked to become a member of a mixed society for the piu'- 
pose of getting carts out of ditches, I should refuse — not 
because of my superior sanctity, but because God's word 
says, " Be not unequally yoked together with unbehevers." 
This would be my answer, no matter what were the object 
proposed by a mixed society. The servant of Christ is 
commanded " to be ready to every good work" — " to do 
good unto all" — " to ^isit the fatherless and the widows in 
then- affliction ;" but then, it is as the servant of Chidst, 
and not as the member of a society or a committee in 
which there mav be infidels and atheists, and all sorts of 
wicked and godless men. Moreover, we must remember 
that all God's ^philanthropy is connected with the cross of 
the Lord Jesus Chiist. That is the channel through which 
God will bless — that the might}^ lever by which He wiU 
elevate man, physically, morally, and intellectually. " After 
that the kindness and philanthropy {q)ikavd pooTtia) of 
God our Saviom^ toward man appeared, not by works of 
righteousness wliich we have done, but according to his 
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and 



LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. 279 

renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which he shed on us abun- 
dantly thi'ough Jesus Chiist oui' SaTioui\" — Titus iii. 4-6. 
This is God's philanthropy. This is His mode of ameh- 
orating man's condition. With all who understand its 
worth the Christian can readily yoke himself, but with 
none other. 

The men of the world know nought of this, care not for 
it. They may seek reformation, but it is reformation with- 
out Christ. They may promote amehoration, but it is 
amehoration without the cross. They wish to advance, but 
Jesus is neither the starting-post nor the goal of their 
course. How, then, can the Christian yoke himself with 
them ? They want to work without Christ, the very One to 
whom he owes everything. Can he be satisfied to work 
with them ? Can he have an object in common with them ? 
If men come to me and say, " we want your co-operation 
in feeding the hungry, in clothing the naked, in founding 
hospitals and lunatic asylums, in feeding and educating 
orphans, in improving the physical condition of our fellow 
mortals ; but you must remember that a leading rule of the 
society, the board, or the committee, formed for such ob- 
jects, is that the name of Chiist is not to be introduced, as 
it would only lead to controversy. Our objects being not 
at all rehgious, but undi\ddedly philanthropic, the subject 
of rehgion of Christ must be studiously excluded fi'om all 
our pubhc meetings. We are met as men, for a benevolent 
purpose, and therefore Infidels, Atheists, Socinians, Aiians, 
Romanists, and all sorts, can happily yoke themselves to 
move onward the glorious machine of philanthropy." What 
should be my answer to such an apphcation ? The fact is, 
words would fail one, who reaUy loved the Lord Jesus, in 
attempting to reply to an appeal so monstrous. What! 



280 LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. 

benefit mortals by the exclusion of Christ ? God forbid ? 
If I cannot gain the objects of pure philanthropy, without 
setting aside that blessed One who lived and died, and lives 
eternally for me, then away with your philanthropy, for it, 
assuredly, is not God's but Satan's. If it were God's, the 
word is, "He shed it on us abundantly through Jesus 
Christ," the very One whom your rule leaves entirely out. 
Hence your rule must be the direct dictation of Satan, the 
enemy of Christ. Satan would always Hke to leave out the 
Son of God ; and, when he can get men to do the same, he 
will allow them to be benevolent, charitable, and philan- 
thropic. 

But, in good truth, such benevolence and philanthropy 
ought to be termed malevolence and misanthropy, for how 
can you more effectually exhibit ill-will and hatred toward 
men, than by leaving out the only one who can really bless 
them, for time or for eternity ? But what must be the moral 
condition of a heart, in reference to Christ, who could take 
his seat at a board, or on a platform, on the condition that 
that name must not be introduced ? It must be cold indeed; 
yea, it proves that the plans and operations of unconverted 
men are of sufficient importance, in his judgment, to lead 
him to throw his Master overboard, for the purpose of car- 
rying them out. Let us not mistake matters. This is the 
true aspect in which to view the world's philanthropy. The 
men of this world can " sell ointment for three hundred 
pence, and give to the poor;" while they pronounce it waste 
to pour that ointment on the head of Christ ! Will the 
Christian consent to this ? Will he yoke himseK with such ? 
Will he seek to improve the world without Christ ? Will he 
join wibh men to deck and garnish a scene which is stained 
with his Master's blood ? Peter could say, " Silver and gold 



LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. 281 

have I none ; but such as I have give I thee : m the name 
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and wa]k." Peter would 
heal a cripple by the power of the name of Jesus; but 
what would he have said, if asked to join a committee or 
society to alleviate cripples, on the condition of leading that 
name out altogether? It requires no great stretch of im- 
agination to conceive his answer. His whole soul would 
recoil from such a thought. He only healed the cripple for 
the purpose of exalting the name of Jesus, and setting 
forth its worth, its excellency, and its glory, in the view of 
men; but the very reverse is the object of the world's phi- 
lanthropy ; inasmuch as it sets aside His blessed name 
entirely, and banishes Him from its boards, its committees, 
and its platforms. 

May we not, therefore, well say, " Shame on the Christian 
who is found in a place from which his Master is shut out ?" 
Oh ! let him go forth, and, in the energy of love to Jesus, 
and by the power of that name, do all the good he can; but 
let him not yoke himself with unbehevers, to counteract the 
effects of sin, by excluding the cross of Christ. God's grand 
object is to exalt His Son — " that all should honor the Son 
even as they honor the Father." This should be the Chris- 
tian's object hkewise ; to this end he should " do good unto 
all ;" but if he join a society or a committee to do good, it 
is not " in the name of Jesus" but in the name of the society 
or committee, without the name of Jesus. This ought to 
be enough for every true and loyal heart. God has no 
other way of blessing men, but through Christ ; and no 
other object in blessing them but to exalt Chiist. As mth 
Pharaoh of old, when the hungry Egyptians flocked to his 
presence, liis word was, "go to Joseph;" so God's word to 
all is, " come to Jesus." Yes, for soul and body, time and 



282 LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. 

eternity, we must go to Jesus ; but the men of the world 
know Him not, and want Him not ; what, therefore has the 
Chiistian to do with such ? How can He act in yoke with 
them ? He can only do so on the groimd of practically 
den^dng his Sa^ioiu^'s name. Many do not see this ; but 
that does not alter the case for those who do. We ought 
to act honestly, as in the Hght ; and even though the feel- 
ings and affections of the new nature were not sufficiently 
strong in us to lead us to shrink from ranking ourselves 
with the enemies of Christ, the conscience ought, as least, 
to bow to the commanding authority of that word, be not 

UNEQUALLY YOKED TOGETHEfl ^\T:TH UNBELIEVERS. 

May the Holy Ghost clothe His own word with heavenly 
power, and make its edge sharp to pierce the conscience, 
that so the samts of God may be dehvered fi^om everything 
that hinders thek "running the race that is set before 
them." Time is short. The Lord Himself ^\all soon be 
here. Then many an unequal yoke mil be broken in a 
moment ; many a sheep and goat shall then be eternally 
severed. May we be enabled to purge oui'selves from every 
unclean association, and every unhallowed influence, so that, 
when Jesus returns, we may not be ashamed, but meet Him 
with a joyful heart and an approving conscience. 

Note — We are indebted to a work entitled " The Unequal Yoke,'* 
for the most important ideas in this article. For further light on 
this important subject we refer our readers to a recent volume by C. 
G. Finney, late President of Oberlin College, Ohio, on "Free 

Masonry." 

Beloved reader, after prayerfully perusing the foregoing, 
how can you or any one with grace in the heart, with Bible 
ill hand, look upon secret oath-bound societies as anything 
but the scaffoldings of Babel, the chmbing up to heaven 



LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. 283 

some other way, and all connected with them, in the pulx)it 
or out of it, anything but ''thieves and robbers?" Look at 
the first three oaths of secrecy of one of these philanthropic 
societies — never to be di^oilged on pain of having "my 
throat cut across," " my left side opened and my heart torn 
out ;" and to have my body severed in twain and my bowels 
burned in the midst." 

And is it possible ? can it be ? that rehgious statesmen, 
Vice-Presidents of the United States, professing GodHness, 
grave doctors of divinity, bishops, elders, deacons, class- 
leaders. Keverends advocating the doctrine of Gospel 
purity, a holy life, entire sanctification, in the face and 
eyes of Omnipotent grace and bleeding mercy, place their 
signatures to an instrument concocted and fi-amed — ^where 
and by whom ? inf ernals in perdition or out of it ? 

Here's a problem unsolved, never to be solved this side 
the pit bottomless. It's mystery on mystery fi'om first to 
last. It begins in mystery, continues hi mystery, ends in 
mystery ; and doubtless it wiU be forever a mystery, both 
to men and angels. Mysteries never cease. There always 
have been mysteries, and doubtless there always ^dU be 
mysteries, while time exists and eternity roUs on ! There 
are mysteries in nature, in science, in rehgion, in things 
temporal, and in things spiritual ; mysteries in heaven, and 
mysteries on earth. 

And yet, amid aU the mysteries above and below, in 
heaven and in hell, in time and in eternity, we know of no 
mystery so great and so mysterious a mystery as the one 
underconsideration. 

Surely, devils in hell and out of it, wonder ^vith amaze- 
ment and helhsh joy at their success in making converts. 



CHRIST! CHRIST! CHRIST!! 



It must be. Do anything for Christ without Christ? 
Could Paul? Not a thought, not a syllable of good, no 
preaching, praying, converting ; doing this, doing that. 
It was Christ with Paul, at early dawn, at noon-day, at 
setting sun, all the time, lying down, rising up, going out, 
coming in. Christ was his food, meat and drink, all in all. 
Every breath breathed was Christ. Here's the great secret 
of success in Paul's labors, in synagogues, from house to 
house, by the river side, when tossed on the billows deep. 
It was Christ in his soul, deep down, burningly, that fiUed 
him with love that no waters quenched, that gave him power, 
spiritual, holy boldness. It was through Christ he endured 
hardness as a good soldier of the cross, suffered persecu- 
tion, received forty stripes five times save one. 

Here we fail, halt, stumble, sicken, die ! Pigmies, mere 
skeletons in piety, dwarfs, dead branches, barren fig trees, 
a valley of dry bones ? How else, but fit for burning with- 
out Christ in us savingly, the hope of glory ? Here's where 
we miss it, sadly, shockingly ! Here's where ruin begins, 
desolation, damnation 1 We are perishing, dying the death 
for want of Christ. Look here, look there, in this pulpit, 
in that pulpit, any Christ heard or seen ? Hark ! hear that 
prayer, that exhortation, what now ? Christ, holy unction, 
sparks heavenly, tongues of Jire ? Listen to the conversa- 
tion to the house of worship and returning therefrom, what 
is it, Christ ? all the ivay, soul kindhngly ? Do hearts burn 
within them while they talk about Jesus, as the hearts of 

284 



Christ! christ! christ! 285 

those who walked to Emmaus ? and Christ drew near and 
went with them ? " And they said one to another, Did not 
our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the 
way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures ?" — Luke 
xxiv. 32. 

How in Sunday-schools ? is Christ the first and the last, 
the always ? How at family worship, in the domestic circle, 
around the fire side, the table spread with heaven's boun- 
ties ? No Christ, no family order, no Gospel training, no 
soul, no Hfe, no holy unction, no tongue of fire I The 
Gergesenes didn't want Christ. — Mat yiii. 24. Wherefore? 
They were not disposed to give up their " ill-gotten gains," 
their devilish traffic in swine's flesh. They " besought him 
to depart out of their coasts." He took them at their word, 
left them to their own destruction, entered into a ship, 
passed over, and came into his own city. — Mat, ix. 1. What 
better are we than these same Gergesenes if hving in lust ? 
lust of the flesh, of the eyes, the pride of life ? 

Preacliing Clirist Crucified is Salvation. — Col. i, 28. 

Prayers may be good, sermonizings may be good, ortho- 
doxly,* here and there, in big congregations and in httle, 
but if Christ is wanting, fire, heavenly, pentacostal, what 
but sounding brass, and tinkling cymabals are they? 
" Without me," said Christ, " ye can do nothing." " I am 



* Orthodoxy may be in form both in writing and preaching, smooth and beautiful, 
and nobody is hit or hurt, no two-edged sword to slay the man of sin is drawn. Sinners 
in their sins are not disturbed, Satan is not roused. Proof positive this of prophesying 
smoothly. A pure Gospel, preached as Paul preached it, exposes popular sins every- 
where, rouses the devil to opposition and persecuiion. Who is for the Lord ? Who ? 

" Many sermons, ingenious, may be compared to a letter put in the post-office with- 
out a direction. It is addressed to nobody, it is owned by nobody, and if a hundred 



286 CHBIST ! CHRIST I CHKIST ! 

the way, the truth and the hfe: no man cometh to the Father, 
but by me." — John xiv. 6. Will the Holy Spirit accompany 
the truth preached without Christ is in it, first, midst, last, 
always ? Can he ? No man can call Jesus Christ Lord, 
but by the Holy Spirit. 

Why did the Holy Spirit accompany the discourse of 
Peter on the day of Pentecost to the convicting and con- 
verting of three thousand souls ? Because Jesus, the Christ, 
was Alpha and Omega, all the way from first to last. (See 
Acts, chapter ii.) Why was the preaching of Phillip blessed 
to the conversion of the Ethiopean eunuch? Because he 
began with Isaiah, and preached Christ, and the eunuch 
beheved, was baptized and went on his way rejoicing. (See 
Acts, chapter viii.) 

Notice the conversion of Paul. Christ himself, from 
heaven, preached Christ to this mad persecutor. AYhat 
now ? awakened and led to cry out, " Who art thou, Lord ? '' 
"When the scales had fallen from his eyes, what did this 
same Paul do ? Preach Christ ? Henceforth and forever ? 
From the very hour that he knew Christ, he determined to 
know nothing else save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 
(See 1 Cor. ii. 1-5.) Why was Paul's labors blessed on 
Mar's hiU, in the midst of idolatry, Epicurean and Stoical 
infidelity, to the awakening and converting of precious 
souls ? Because he preached Christ and the resurrection. 



people were to read it, not one of them would think himself concerned in the contents. 
Such a sermon lacks the chief requisite. It is like a sword which has a polished 
blade, a jeweled hilt, and a gorgeous scabbard, but yet will not cut. Truth, properly 
presented, has an edge, it pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, it is a dis- 
cenier of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The N. V. I/eraid szys : *' Every 
Monday morning in the year the Herald publishes Sabbath-day sermons whose chief 
or only merit is that they contain line phrases, beautifully rounded paragraphs and 
polished sentences, but they do not contain Gospel truth enough to save a soul." 



CHBIST ! CHRIST ! CHRIST ! 287 

(See Acts, chapter xvii.) Why was Felix made to tremble, 
and king Agrippa to say, " Almost thou persuadest me to 
be a Christian ?" Was it not because Christ was first and 
last, in Paul's experience and preaching? (See Acts, chap- 
ter xxvi.) "Why did the Holy Spirit fall U]oon Cornehus 
and those with him, under Peter's ministrations? (See 
Acts X. 44, 45. ) Was it not because Christ was the theme, 
the soul and the hfe of what Peter said ? 

The apostles and early disciples, after the tongue of fire 
was given pentecostally, were filled with this purifying, sanc- 
tifying grace of Christ. Their preaching was Christ, their 
praying was Christ ; their singing, making melody in the 
heart to the Lord, was Christ ; their conversations at home 
and abroad, lying down, rising up, going out, and coming 
in ; around the fire-side, the table spread with heaven's 
bounties, were made up largely of Christ. The meditations 
of their hearts, and the answer of their tongues were 
Christ. Glorious ! Is it so now ? O where ? 

What the results of this having Christ and him crucified, 
always, everywhere, in the heart, the Hfe, the every-day 
walk ? Most glorious ! Sinners in the gall of bitterness 
and in the bonds of iniquity, the most stubborn, hardened, 
self-willed, heaven-daring, blood-guilty, were awakened and 
converted, multitudinous ! Saints were strengthened, built 
up in their most holy faith, rejoicingly. It was fire, fire, 
fire! Gospel fii^e, day in, day out. Not a sermon was 
dehvered without Christ, first and last. The apostles began 
their discources with Christ, and kept on with Christ, both 
from the Old Testament and the New. Is it so now? 
O where ? 

" The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." — 
Rev. xix. 10. The very soul, the leading subject, the main 



288 CHRIST I CHRIST ! CHRIST ! 

design, therefore, of prophecy is to testify of Jesus. Hence 
he himself declares, " In the volume of the book it is written 
of me, Lo ! I come to do thy will, O God: thy law is within 
my heart." — Psa. xl. t, etc. He is the Alpha and Omega. 
From the first promise declared to Adam, Gen, iii. 15, the 
atonement of the great Eedeemer is traced in lines of blood, 
throughout all the types and shadows of the Mosaic ritual, 
up to his cross, the substance and glory of them all. Behold 
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 
It is to this stupendous fact — the great atoning sacrifice 
OF Immanuel — that aU the previous parts of Scripture point 
and labor to arrive, and which the Holy Ghost, in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews, so beautifully exhibits. 

The whole Bible might be labeUed, "The Word of Christ," 
it is so full of Him ; in all parts of it you find a word from 
Him, or a word about Him ; take Him away from it, and 
it would be a book vdthout a meaning. It has been well 
said, " What a babe's clothes are when the babe has shpped 
out of them into death, and the mother's arms clasp only 
the raiment — that would the Bible be if the Babe of Bethle- 
hem, and the great truths that clothed His life and death, 
should sHp out of it." But there is no possibiHty of putting 
Christ out of the Bible, for He is its very substance. 

Thus, notwithstanding all the schemes of ungodly men, 

it will be with the name of Christ ; it will still remain in 

the Bible to be as the Hght and glory of the sacred page, 

and thus the Bible wdU be to aU generations what the star 

was to the wise men of the East — a hght to guide mankind 

to the Saviour. 

** Of all the gifts Thy love bestows, 
Thou Giver of all good ! 
Not heaven itself a richer knows, 
Than the Bedeemer's blood." 



CHRIST ! CHRIST ! CHRIST ! 289 

Friends of the Lord Jesus, redeemed by liis blood, preacli 
Christ the Saviour. Men are lost ! lost ! without Christ. Sin- 
ners need salvation, and none can save them but Christ the 
Lord, who came to seek and save the lost. There is no 
other name given under heaven, nor among men, whereby 
sinners can be saved, except the Lord Jesus. He was 
promised in Eden. Patriarchs saw his day, and were glad. 
Prophets described with gloT\ing eloquence his sufferings 
and death. Angels announced his birth, and sung with 
celestial melody to the wondering shepherds. He was the 
Son of God. John the Baptist heralded his approach, 
saying : " This was he of whom I spake : he that cometh 
after me, is preferred before me, for he was before me." — 
John i. 15. Multitudes thronged to hear him preach, and 
witness his miracle-working power. He healed the sick, 
gave sight to the bhnd, strength to the lame, speech to the 
dumb, hearing to the deaf, joy to the sorrowful, peace to 
the troubled, forgiveness to the guilty, life to the dead, and 
preached the Gospel to the poor. 

Preach Christ Jesus. The Bible is full of him. All the 
rays of divine truth connect and centre in him, like the 
rays of light in a focus. No man can preach the Bible, 
unless he preaches Jesus. Just as the rivers run to the sea, 
so do all the Hues of promises and predictions lead to Jesus. 
Just as the sun is the centre of the solar system, so Christ 
is the centre of the system of Christianity. This radiance 
shines in every sacred text. 

Preach Christ, and him crucified, now at the right hand 
of the Father. The holy prophets and apostles did. Their 
minds were full of him. Wherever they went they proclaimed 
him. He was the sum and substance of theii' preaching. 
When PhiHp heard the eunuch reading the prophecy ot 



290 CHBIST ! CHRIST ! CHBIST ! 

Isaiah, he began at the same Scriptui'e and preached Jesus. 
When he went down to Samaria, he preached Christ unto 
them. When Peter found the company assembled at the 
house of Cornehus, he preached peace by Jesus Christ. 
"When Paul was converted and baptized at Damascus, he 
did not stop to confer with flesh and blood. In the syna- 
gogues he preached Jesus, that he is the Christ, and ever 
afterward Jesus was the theme of this great apostle. Heai* 
him. "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the 
Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." "I 
determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus 
Christ, and him crucified." " Whom we preach, warning 
every man, and teaching every man in aU wisdom ; that we 
may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." 

Beloved readers, in the assembly of the saints or out of 
it, preach Christ. But be sure, first of aU, that you know 
him as your personal Savioui^, your aU and in all. " If Christ 
be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is 
life, because of righteousness." 

If Christ is in you the hope of glory, then you can preach 
him. Down with self, and exalt Jesus, come life, come 
death. Persecuted? Suppose you are, fiiend, even unto 
death. Did Christ come to send peace on earth or a sword ? 
No true minister of the Lord Jesus fails to stir the sedi- 
ment of carnal hearts, provoke the enmity and opposition 
of proud, fashionable, money-loving souls, " lovers of plea- 
sure more than lovers of God." Those who tell us the 
ofience of the cross, or persecution, has ceased — ^that the 
great battle for truth and righteousness is fought, and that 
henceforth the church is to move on smoothly and prosper- 
ously, " on flowery beds of ease," are not the ones to stand 
at the cannon's mouth, place themselves in the battle's front, 



CHRIST ! CHRIST ! CHRIST 1 291 

beard the lion in his den, wage open warfare with the com- 
bined powers of earth and hell. Satan is not very likely to 
trouble those that shun the cross, are at ease in Zion, oppose 
agitation, cry " peace, peace," when there is no peace, bow 
the knee to a time-serving age, loving the praise of men 
more than the praise of God. 

** What wants the age ? Heart-earnest men 
To spread the truth, the truth defend ; 
Such on the earth we need again 
As God in ancient times did send." 

Ministers are like the pole on which the brazen ser- 
pent was erected ; they are useful so long at they hold 
up the object of faith, Jesus Christ. Hide behind the cross, 
and let the people see notliing but Jesus. Preach his life ; 
preach his death ; preach his resiuTection ; preach his as- 
cension ; preach his coming ; preach his reign ; preach all 
about him ; keep preaching him. Preach him not only in 
the pulpit, but out of it ; preach him in every thought, 
word and action. Preach him from house to house : keep 
back no part of the price. Neglect no opportunity to 
preach Jesus. Do this, and thou shalt be a good minister 
of Jesus Christ, nomished in the words of faith and of 
good doctrine. 

** And what, O what is good ? 
'Tis first to seek the favor of thy God ; 
Let thy will blend with his, and honor him 
By walking in the way thy Saviour trod." 



Address.... Axiil^iovoi '' DIGGING ROOTS," ''SHINING LIGHT," Etc 

No. 303 West Twentieth Street, N. Y. 



TALKINS WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING! 



** If wisdom's ways you wisely seek, 
Five things observe with care : 
To whom you speak, of whom you speak, 
And how, and wheUi and where,'' 

Talk, and nothing to say ? No, you shouldn't, friend. 
Stop, close youi' lips, hush till you have something to say. 
This talkmg when nothing is said, alas ! how common, how 
dreadful ! We hear it at the table, around the &e-side, in 
social gatherings, here and there, by the way-side, no end 
to it. How much precious time is lost — ^worse than lost ! 

" He that hath knowledge spareth his words : and a man 
of understanding is of an excellent spirit. Even a fool, 
when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise : and he that 
shutteth his hps is esteemed a man of understanding." — 
Prov, xvii. 2*1, 28. 

The Psalmist prayed earnestly for a watch to be placed 
at the door of his Hps. He promised the Lord also that he 
would bridle his tongue, especially in the presence of the 
wicked or ungodly. " The tongue of the wise useth knowl- 
edge aright." "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life." 
" The hps of the wise disperse knowledge." " The heart 
of the righteous studieth to answer ; but the mouth of the 
wicked poureth out evil things." — Prov, xv. 28. " Be more 
ready to hear, says Solomon, " than to give the saciifice of 
fools." " Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heai-t 
be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven 

292 



TALKING WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING. 293 

and thou upon earth : therefore let thy words be few." 
" A fool's voice is known by a multitude of words." 

James says : " If a man offend not in word, the same is 
a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body." These 
passages from inspiration of God are appHcable both to 
prayer and conversation. 

" The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious : but 
the Hps of the fool swallow liim up." " The tongue is a 
little member and boasteth great things." " Put away from 
thee a froward mouth, and perverse Hps put far from 
thee." " In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin." 
" He that keepeth his mouth, keepeth his life." 

" The only edged tool that becomes sharper by constant 
use, is the tongue. It is often a sting full of deadly poison. 
It is both an offensive weapon — a shield and a spear. Some 
carry dirks in their pockets, others in their mouths. The 
tongue of the malignant is Hke a masked battery, which 
makes us feel fire when we can't see smoke. There's never 
a spui' for the tongue in all the Bible, but many a bit. As 
a condition of longevity physicians say : ' Keep the head 
cool and the feet warm.' This is Peter's recipe for a long 
and happy Hfe : * He that wiU love life and see good days, 
let him refrain his tongue fi'om evil, and his Hps from speak- 
ing guile.' Physicians are accustomed to judge of the 
state of the body by the condition of the tongue, assuming 
as a settled principle that there is an intimate connection 
between the state of the tongue and the tone of the system. 
The apostle James adopts a similar course. To judge of 
soul-health, he looks at the tongue. If any man offend not 
in word, his moral health is perfect. On the other hand, 
if any one seem to be religious wliile the tongue is un- 
bridled, that man's soul is sick. Read the third chapter of 



294 TALKING WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING. 

James. What a deKneation of the soul-sickness of the 
race! 

* A child of words and not of deeds, 
Is like a garden full of weeds.' " 

Have you nothing edifying or profitable to communicate ? 
Well, then, say nothing — hold your peace. 

Never talk merely for the sake of talking. Hush ! Lift 
up your heart silently, in prayerful ejaculations, for wisdom, 
pure, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good 
fruits, without partiaHty, and without hypocrisy ; that the 
words of your mouth and the meditations of your hearts 
may be acceptable to God, edifying, administering grace to 
the hearers. 

Again : never open your hps when unduly excited or 
ruffled. Keep still ! look up. The art of silence is a great 
art, both with the old and the young. 

Keep your mouth as with a bridle. Learn to be silent 
under oppositions, provocations, rebukes, injuries, or perse- 
cutions. It is better to say nothing, than to say anything 
in an angry or excited manner, even if the occasion should 
seem to justify a degree of anger. By remaining silent, 
the mind is enabled to coUect itself, and calls upon God in 
secret aspirations of prayer. And thus you will speak to 
the honor of your holy profession, as well as to the good 
of those who have injured you, when you speak from God. 

*' Whene'er the angry passions rise, 

And tempt our thoughts and tonges to strife ; 
To Jesus let us lift our eyes, 
Bright pattern of the Christian life." 

The right government of the tongue is a subject of vital 
importance, and which we cannot disregard with impunity. 



TALKING WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING. 295 

" If any man among you seem to be reKgious, and bridleth 
not his tongue, that man's reHgion is vain." " By thy words 
thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be 
condemned." 

The cure of an evil tongue must be in the heart. The 
weights and wheels are there, and the clock strikes accord- 
ing to their motion. " Out of the abundance of the heart 
the mouth speaketh." "Words are the index of the heart. 

In short — ^when our hearts are right we shall never want 
for topics of conversation, which will " please our neighbor 
for his good to edification." "A good man, out of the 
good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things." 

** Trifle not ; for from the fullness 

Of the heart the mouth doth speak, 
And from clear and rock-bound fountains 
Never will foul waters break." 



A Quiet Spirit. 

Of all the jewels that adorn the wearer, we have inspired 
authority for saying that the ornament of a meek and quiet 
spirit is, in the sight of God, of great price ; and the ques- 
tion is one which is often asked by those who feel that they 
have it not, how shall we acquire tliis self-control ? " If one 
could recall some of the bitter and uncharitable words that 
shp so easily from the tongue and which time cannot efface, 
how much suffering our loved ones might be spared ! " 
How often the Scriptm-es call on men to consider, and wis- 
dom bids her childi*en ponder their steps and keep the door 
of then- lips. The precious word is ever sounding to all 
burdened souls, " Come unto me." Christ alone can help. 



•ifiitiiniiiriiv!',;^ 




Educating liittle Folks — How T Wlien 1 

^^ Doing your very best" are you, parent, in educating 
for glory eternal ? Solemn thought, momentous ! fearful ! 
A Christian mother said to us rather tartly, when reproved 
for her remissness in family government : " I've done the 
very best I could, and still my children are what you see: 
they are wild, unruly, turbulent, selfish, graceless as grace- 
less can be." We were startled ! stood aghast ! at the 
words flowing thus from her hps. Done your very best, 
have you, indeed, madam, in training youi* household for 
God ? "\Miat meanest thou, dear woman, saddle your ini- 
quity, the quintescence of the pit, on the Lord Almighty ! 
Awful sin, blasphemous ! '^^^lat impenitent sinner more 
sinful, heaven-daring ! "What, make God a har ? What 
plea for serving the devil more common, more frequent in 

296 



EDUCATING LITTLE FOLKS. 297 

mouths foul as the pit ! Obey God and live. Stamp down 
truth, beautiful, sparkling, glorious — die the death ! 

** If self must be denied, 

And sin no more caressed, 
They rather choose the way that's wide, 
And strive to think it best." 

Christian parent, God says — Devote your child to me 
under my revealed covenant, and I will accept the dedica- 
tion. Train that child for me in humble faith, and I will 
aid yoiu: efforts. If you consent, I will be a God to you 
and your children after you. 

Now with such a superadded pledge of divine co-opera- 
tion, why should Christian parents fail in their training of 
their children for God and for usefulness ? Must they not 
stand indictable before, not human laws only, but before the 
law and bar of God, if the early defection of their children 
prove that as parents, they have been recreant to their 
high, tender, and sacred obhgations ? 

Parent, " Take heed to thyseK, lest thou make a covenant 
with the inhabitants of the land, whither thou goest, lest it 
be a snare in the midst of thee.'' 

" Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of 
the ungodly." 

*' O 'tis a lovely thing for youth, 
To walk betimes in wisdom's ways." 

" E\al communications corrupt good manners." 

*' Call the children early, parent, 
Call them at the dawn of day. 
Lead them in the narrow way. " 

How very common it is to hear from the lij^s of delin- 
quents, by way of apology for sin and open disobedience 



298 EDUCATING LITTLE FOLKS. 

"to the law and the testimony," "We do the best we 
can — ^we do the best we know how !" Parents excuse them- 
selves in the same way when reproved for neglecting house- 
hold duty. 

" We have done the best we could — the best we knew 
how — in training our children, and yet they are wayward, 
disobedient, thoughtless, and fond of pleasure." Friends, 
this is strange talk. Is God a hard master ? Does he re- 
quire brick without straw ? Has he said it, and will he not 
perform it — " Train up a child in the way he should go, and 
when he is old he will not depart from it ?" And will you 
persist in saying, you have done to the best of your abihty 
in obeying God in this precept, and your sons and daugh- 
ters are, meanwhile, in the broad road that leads to des- 
truction ? Whom shall we credit, you or the God of truth, 
who cannot he ? " Yea, let God be true, but every man a 
liar." What saith the Lord on the subject of household 
training ? What directions has he given, from Genesis to 
Revelation, on the duty of parents in rearing " the tender 
thought?" How readest thou, parent? Have you ex- 
amined the writings of Moses prayerfully and carefully on 
the question before us ? Likewise the sayings of Solomon, 
the inspired apostles, and the utterances of Jesus Christ, 
God's dear Son ? Have you viewed critically the examples 
recorded by the pen of Holy Inspiration of consistent family 
training, and the unspeakable blessings resulting therefrom 
— the fearful curses that surely follow disobedience in the 
performance of this duty ? The Bible is full of judgments 
and mercies touching this very thing. Instance the mer- 
cies accompanying obedience in the early training of Moses, 
Samuel, John the Baptist, and Timothy. It was said to 
the mother of Moses, " Take this child away and nurse it 



EDUCATING LITTLE FOLKS. 299 

for me, and I will give thee thy wages.'* And how well 
this inother discharged her duty, the Hfe and wiitings 
of Moses testify. 

'* She asked not for it earthly bliss, 

Or earthly honors, wealth, or fame ; 
The sum of her request was this, 
That it might love and fear God's name. " 

What untold blessings came upon Hannah, the mother 
of Samuel, for her faithfulness to her solemn covenant vow, 
in rearing her first-bom in the fear and admonition of the 
Lord ! The dedication of herself, and the male child whom 
she sought, was forever ! Samuel was lent to the Lord in 
a perpetual and everlasting covenant ere he saw the Hght 
of the sun, or " curiously wrought in the lower parts of the 
earth." "Who can reckon up in order the unspeakable bless- 
ings that crowned the labors of Joshebad and Hannah in 
this work of love? Who was Moses ? who Samuel? what 
their hves ? Light on earth ! glory forever ! All this for 
obedience, taking God at his word in household duty. 

Again ; parents, instance the example of Abraham ? "I 
know him, saith the Lord, that he v^l command his chil- 
dren, and his household after him ; and they shall keep the 
way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord 
may bring upon Abraham that which I have spoken of liim." 
Abraham used not only persuasive means — mild, gentle, 
heavenly — in governing his household, but likewise com- 
manding influence. " The rod and reproof give ^dsdom, 
but a child left to himself bringeth shame." 

Look at John the Baptist. What was he ? what his life 
from his birth ? Among all those born of woman was there 
ever a greater ? His parents, who were they ? what their 
daily wall^ ? They were both righteous before God, " walk- 



300 EDUCATING LITTLE FOLKS. 

ing in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord 
blameless." Mark the coui^se of Timothy fi'om his child- 
hood. How came he vase unto salvation? By whom? 
through whom ? what medium ? 

These are a few recorded examples of truth and love by 
the pen of Infinite Wisdom, to show what has been, may 
be, should be. So it was, so it will be in every case, where 
the conditions of salvation are observed. The promise is 
sure. " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word 
shall not pass away." " Behold, to obey is better than sac- 
rifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." 

Look now for a moment at the judgments, the curse of 
all ciu'ses, resting on those who disobey God in family 
training. What one thing troubled Jacob more than all 
his other troubles ? Read the history of this good patriarch, 
and see what brought his gray hairs with sorrow to the 
grave prematurely. 

Glance at Eh's household, what do you see — peace, joy, 
salvation, a httle Eden, a heaven below, in the family ch'cle ? 
Nay, sons of Behal ; wi^ath upon wrath ; trouble here, 
trouble there, daily, nightly, till Eh fell backwards, and his 
neck snapped asunder, and his hbidinous sons were huiied 
into an awful eternity, as in a moment. All this, and yet 
more, " because his sons were vile, and he restrained them 
not." 

What sorrowed David's heart evermore — from first to 
last gave hun trouble and vexation, even to his dying pil- 
low? Was it not on account of parental neglect, false 
tenderness? Nothing gave King David half the trouble 
and grief at heart, during his long and successful reign, as 
his proud, ambitious, rebellious sons, whom he permitted 
to grow up in idleness, sin, and folly, to do as they pleased. 



EDUCATING LITTLE FOLKS. 801 

Like Eli, his sons were vile, and he restrained them not. 
It is said in 1 Kings i. 5, that David had not displeased his 
wicked son Adonijay at any time by saying, " AVhy hast 
thou done so ?" As much as to say, " serve the devil when 
you please, as much as you please." Follow the same train 
of thought to the present, what do you see ? the very same 
judgments, the very same mercies, in accordance vrith obe- 
dience or disobedience in family culture. 

Eh was an accomphce in the crimes of his sons, because 
he connived at them. He knew his duty, and did it not. 
" For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, 
for the iniquity which he knoweth : because his sons were 
vile, and he restrained them not." — 1 Sam, iii. 13. (See, 
also, 1 Sam. ii. 29-36.) Kesponsible for the sins of your 
children, as truly and certainly as God rules and reigns. 

Sow to the wind, the whirlwind reap ! Heaven and earth 
shall pass away : the word of truth, never. And yet, you 
parents, with all these examples of judgments and mercies 
staring you full in the face, assert or vouchsafe your inno- 
cence — that you are clear in the matter of paternal discip- 
hne ; you have always done your best in training your 
children, and yet they stretch forth the puny arm of re- 
bellion against the Most High — refuse to bow the knee to 
the sceptre of King Immanuel. " Beware, therefore, lest 
that come which is spoken of in the prophets." 

" Behold, I wall send you Ehjah the prophet before the 
coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And 
he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the childi'en, and the 
heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite 
the earth with a curse." — Mai. iv. 5, 6. " For I the Lord am 
a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the^Iathers upon the 
children unto the third and fourth generation of them that 



302 EDUCATING LITTLE FOLKS. 

hate me ; aud show mercy unto thousands of them that 
love me and keep my commandments." — Ex, xx. 5, 6. 

The command, " Be ye holy, for I am holy," is apphca- 
ble to every httle son and daughter of Adam's fallen race. 

" If children thus earnestly seek him below, 
Thej^ shall see him and hear him above, 

In that beautiful place he has gone to prepare, 
For all who are washed and forgiven ; 

And many dear children are gathering there, 
For of such is the kingdom of heaven." 

Save all the Httle folks, you save the world. Let the 
"httle folks" grow up \vicked, proud, disobedient, (as most 
of them are gi^owing up ;) and the world becomes more 
and more wicked, an aceldama, a field of blood! as we 
now see it ! Therefore lay the ax at the root. Begin where 
God begins. 

God said to his ancient people, " Thou shalt teach these 
words which I command thee dihgently unto thy children 
. . . when thou hest down and when thou risest up." Lead 
the children du^ectly to Jesus — rest not till you are sure 
they are in his arms. Never let go their hands till then. 

One thing is cei-tain — none educated in a home of cheer- 
ful, consistent, heart-felt piety, the love of Jesus, regenerated 
and sanctified, can ever afterward be led to despise the 
rehgion of the Bible. 

A child trained fi'om infancy's early dawnings " in the 
way he should go" till the age of maturity or the lea^dng 
the paternal roof, God says, " he will not depart from it.'' 



Address Author of ^'LITTLE MARY IN A NUT-SHELL," 

No. 303 West Twentietli Street, N. Y. 



A CLOSINS, LOVma APPEAL TO EDITORS AMD PUBLISHEES. 



" A word spoken in season how good it is." — Pro. xv. 23. 

" Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend ; but 
the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." — Pro. xxvii. 56. 

" Let the righteous smite me : it shall be a kindness : and let him reprove me ; it 
shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head : for yet my prayer also shall 
be in their calamities." — Psa. cxli. 5. 

** To conquer is a glorious thing : 
To dare in mind, in heart, in deed ; 
'Tis grmi, 'tis glorious to succeed !'* 

Beloved in the cliair editorial, you have friends, not a 
few, but, who among them all dearer, or more faithful than 
the one now addressing you ? Who among your numer- 
ous friends say to you kindly, for mercy's sake " stop and 
think before you farther go ?" " A friend in need is a friend 
indeed.'' 

" He that rebuketh a man, afterwards shaU find more 
favor than he that flattereth with the tongue." " Let him 
know, that he which converteth. the sinner from the error 
of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a 
multitude of sms." — James v. 20. 

For lack of timely outspoken, loving, God-feaiing faithful- 
ness in rebuking sin, we are perishing, dying the death ! 
In brandishing the two-edged sword of God's truth against 
popular sins that cry aloud for vengeance, what are we in 
comparison with you if clothed in youi' right minds, sitting 
at the feet of the Lord Jesus ? Yet, feeble as we are — 

303 



304 A CLOSING, LOVING APPEAL. 

insignificant as we are — speak we must to be refreshed, for 
duty's sake, for Christ's sake. 

** For right is right, since God is God, 
And right the day must win; 
To doubt would be disloyalty, 
To falter would be sin." 

Beloved editors and publishers, when you advertise and 
puff books and papers, what is it for — to please the Master ? 
Can you, dare you put pen to paper in Hterary notices, till 
you know whether you are building the Lord's kingdom or 
Satan's ? Only a short time since we said to a rehgious 
editor, " Friend, what could induce you to notice that vile 
sheet, made up more or less of hes ?" " Why," said he, 
smilingly, "it was a mere compHment, everybody puffs it!" 
Serve the devil by way of comphment, or because others 
serve him ! Another very pious editor slaughters by whole- 
sale. Some four or five beautiful volumes are placed on his 
table for puffing. He gravely and sanctifiedly tells the 
pubHc, he is pressed with duty, and has no time for 
critical examination, but from the contents he presumes 
they must be worthy of commendation. Besides, other 
good editors have puffed them, and forthwith he draws his 
bow at a venture, takes a leap in the dark, sink or swim, 
kill or no kill, for the Lord or for the devil, he lets fly ! 
Could Satan deske an agent more to his liking ? Thus the 
leprosy spreads — takes deep root. 

Soma pubhcations in the book and periodical form begin 
with Hes, keep on steadily and increasingly with Hes and 
lying, page after page, aU through, boldly, unblushingly, 
deviHshly, letting everybody see and know they are the 
devil's faithful servants. Others again, conceal the cloven 



A CLOSING, LOVING APPEAL. 305 

foot — the snake lies coiled unseen, everything outwardly ap- 
pears beautiful and fair. 

" There is a way which seemeth right unto a man ; but 
the end thereof are the ways of death/' 

** Far off, the road which leads to death 
Looks beautiful and fair. " 

Satan's ways are moveable, thou canst not know them. 
Kead along — by and by, what do you see, the serpent with 
forked tongue ? Not long since we saw a new book from 
the " American Tract Society," puffed here, puffed there, 
by rehgious editors, not excepting the " Female Guardian." 
Sui*ely, thought we, this must be a valuable keepsake : we 
ventured to pmxhase several copies. What now ? Satan 
in the beginning ? No. Where then ? in the middle ? There 
the viper was sure ! Oh ! oh ! what a devil ! what a de\dl ! 
His infernal nose is getting into every dish ! Embrace him, 
clasp him to the bosom, who don't ? what rehgious editor, 
novel writer, puffer and seller does not take stock in this 
lucrative business ? 

Look at the trash, heaps on heaps, the siUiest of the silly, 
the foohshest of the foohsh, the devihshest of the devihsh, 
termed "gift books, Christmas or hohday presents for 
children," sent forth from rehgious book stores, advertised 
and puffed by rehgious editors ! What a curse, what a 
curse ! Is it a wonder that so many of our dear youth are 
lovers of pleasure — baptized infidels ? sons and daughters 
of Belial? To advertise and puff these imps of Satan, 
placed on your tables by pious booksellers, what but serv- 
ing the devil is it ? What else, friends ? Ashamed of it ? 
Not a blush is on your cheeks. You bow the knee to Baal 
with heart-felt complacency, with as good grace and digni- 



306 A CLOSING, LOVING APPEAL 



fied composure as you sit down to a luxurious repast, 
brazen-facedly ! " Such is the way of an adulterous woman : 
She eateth and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done 
no wickedness." — Prov, xxx. 20. 

Sick at heart, on opening your weekly and monthly 
issues, and beholding your abominable time-serving, popular- 
ity-seeking, catering to a corrupt pubhc taste; your receiving 
honor of men, while casting behind you the honor that 
Cometh from God only ! puffing meanwhile the very bub- 
bling's and scum of the pit, the rottenest of the rotten, the 
quintescence of hell — how otherwise than sick even to 
vomiting ! Not only sick, but we fear greatly. We open 
your linsey-woolsy sheets tremblingly, lest venomous, hiss- 
ing serpents, not a few with forked tongues and heads up- 
hfted, run here, run there, biting or stinging to death, httle 
folks and big folks, up staii's and down. Frequently we 
are constrained for mercy's sake, the safety of oui' family, 
little ones and great ones, to scream out piercingly: ^'Beicare 
of the snakes, the coiled serpents ! run ! flee ! escape for 
yoiH" life !" 




These last mentioned, advertised and puffed by pious 
editors (snakes in the grass), are Satan's transformations, 



A CLOSING, LOVING APPEAL. 307 

or angel devils. The former alluded to, the obscene, brazen- 
faced, openly and squarely, for death and damnation, " the 
world, the flesh and the devil/' "WHiich the most danger- 
ous, the most to be feared and shunned ? the Hon devils or 
the angel devils ? The American Tract Society, " The 
Christian Union," and other rehgious bodies (not a few), 
including many pious editors and pubhshers, repudiate the 
Hon de\ils, but clasp the angel devils to their bosoms ! This 
is aU Satan asks, or wishes for. These angel devils, rehgi- 
ous novels and tales, he well knows lead, unmistakably, to 
the Hon devils, the most obscene and soul-poUuting, publi- 
cations. 

It is through the imagination chiefly that society is cor- 
rupted. Most temptations would appeal in vain to the 
other faculties. The insinuating, tainting products of the 
Satanic press, the opera, the theatre, the gambhng-hell, the 
dance-house, the ball, the extravagances of fashion, and the 
pleasures of dissolute society, all make the appeal to the 
imagination. There are poets who, with siren notes, 
charm the unsuspecting victim into the jaws of destruction 
— ^poets 

** Whose poisoned song 

Would blend the bounds of right and wrong, 

And hold with sweet but cursed art 

Their incantations o'er the heart, 

Till every pulse of pure desire 

Throbs with the glow of passion's fire." 

There are novehsts and actors who, by similar methods, 
wield influences most potent for corruption and ruin. And 
all this measureless mischief is wrought through the 
imagination. 

Repent of your wickedness, friends, do works meet for 



308 A CLOSING, LOVING APPEAL. 



repentance? When? At doom's day ? Because sentence 
against your evil doings is not executed speedily, your whole 
heart is fully set in you to work wickedness with greedi- 
ness ! TeU the Lord Jesus of you ? how awfully and shame- 
fully you dishonor his name ? trample bleeding mercy under 
your feet ? We have told him, we do, we shall Beivare, 
fiiends, lest by and by he tear you in pieces. Read Proverbs, 
chapter I, beginning at verse 20, and go through the chap- 
ter, and see how terribly God deals with incorrigibles, the 
willfully stiff-necked and obstinate, " He that being often 
reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, 
and that vrithout remedy." — Frov. xxix. 1. See your pic- 
ture portrayed vividly? When told in love, a spirit of 
Gospel meekness, in strains sweet as angels use, weepingly, 
beseechingly, for Christ's sake, for the honor and gloiy of 
Him who shed his precious blood on Calvary, for the sake 
of precious immortals yet unborn, to stop this putting the 
shoulder to Satan's wheels — stop stretching every nei-^^e in 
blotting out the life, the essence and quintescence of Gos- 
pel purit}^^ — any signs of hfe, hope, confession, restitution, 
or of ceasing to do evil ? Do your stiff necks bend in the 
least ? your callous, adamantine hearts soften or relent ? 
Think, beloved editors and pubhshers, of proud Korah's 
troop, what became of them? — Numbers xvi ; of Nadab 
and Abihu, that offered strange fire ; what did God in their 
case ? Send fu^e from heaven, burn them up ? — Lev, x. 
how read ye ? 

" Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among 
wheat with a pestle, yet will he not depart from his foohsh- 
ness." — Frov. xxvii. 22. 

" Why should ye be stricken any more, ye will revolt more 
and more." — Isa. i. 5. 



A CLOSING, LOVING APPEAL. 309 

" Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit," what now ? 
more hope for a fool ? Solomon says so. 

The devil is in this work of yours, friends, no mistake, 
sure as you Hve and breathe. And still you help the old 
serpent, stand side by side with him. Hail fellow, well met ! 
Souls perish through your instrumentaHty ? How many, 
think you, in the day of final reckoning, will date their 
downfall and everlasting ruin, through your puffing appara- 
tus ? Will it help you or these lost souls, spirits damned, 
by saying, " it was popular to puff Satan and his works, 
everybody puffed them ?" Or what will it profit in taking 
the grog-seller's plea, " If I don't kill, somebody else will. 
If I don't poison souls to death, consign them to the pit 
bottomless, by deaHng out hquid death, and distiUed damna- 
tion, some one else will." Children, not a few, of those 
who traffic in strong drink, rum and tobacco, become in- 
ebriates, bloated sots, and find a drunkard's grave. Fathers, 
mothers, sons and daughters, all find a common hell of 
weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. So may it be 
with these dealers in intellectual poisons, that intoxicate 
the mind, corrupt the heart, pollute the soul — sink it lower 
than the grave ! " He that soweth to the flesh shall of the 
flesh reap corruption." " They have sown the wind, and 
they shall reap the whirlwind." — Hos. viii. 7. 

** Who sows to winds, the whirlwind reaps, 
And life's great end confounds ! 
Then be, ye stewards, wise to escape 
The wrath that knows no bounds." 

There is no offence upon the face of earth which causes 
such deep, overwhelming, heart-burning grief and sorrow, 
as does this one single crime of seduction, of leading the 



310 A CLOSING, LOVING APPEAL. 

youth of our cities astray in paths of vice and sinful amuse- 
ments, through the medium of novels, silly tales, fictitious 
writings. 

" Oh, if there be a doom more dread 

Than others on the judgment-day, 
It sure must be for him who led 

A pure and gentle heart astray. 
There may be pardon for the knave, 

And mercy for the wretch that stole ; 
But heaven, I fear, will ne'er forgive 

The murderer of a human soul. 

" And he said, Go and tell this people ; Hear ye indeed, 
but understand not : and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, 
and shut their eyes : lest they see with their eyes, and hear 
with their ears, and understand with their heart, and con- 
vert and be healed." — Isa. vi. 9, 10. 

" Wo to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his 
house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be de- 
Uvered from the power of evil. Thou hast consulted shame 
to thy house, by cutting off many people, and hast sinned 
against thy soul. For the stone shall ciy out of the wall, 
and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Wo to 
him that buildeth a town with blood, and stabHsheth a city 
by iniquity. Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts, that 
the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall 
weary themselves for very vanity ?" 



Address Author of ^^ digging ^oots/^ etc. 

No. 303 West Twentietli Street, N. Y. 




Solving Grood Seed ! 



Preaching Folks — Folks that Preach, 

Preach here, preach there — sow good seed here, sow 
good seed there. 

** Thou kno west not which may thrive, 
The late or early sown ; 
Grace keeps the precious germ alive, 
When and wherever strown. " 

" As ye go, preach." — Mat. x. 7. 

Begin with the rising sun, keep on with the king of day, 
from his rising to his setting thereof ; preach in the morn- 
ing, at noon-day, at even-tide. Husbands and wives preach ? 
Yes. Parents and children ? Yes. Little folks ? By all means 
" Have ye not read, out of the mouth of babes and suck- 
lings thou hast perfected praise?" — Mat, xxi. 16. 

Parents, train your httle ones to be preachers — mission- 
aries of the cross ; begin at home, in the nursery, by the 
fire-side, around the table, the family altar. 

** Keep the family altar burning — 
Let the sacred flame be bright ; 
Gather round it in the morning, 
Gather round it every night. 

*' Keep the family altar burning, 
Let the children all be there ; 
That they may receive the blessing 
At the sacred hour of prayer. " 

311 



312 SOWING GOOD SEED. 

Home work first, home work dl the time. " Train up a 
child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will 
not depart from it/' 

** Call the children early, parent, 
Give the little lambs thy care ; 
See that they are folded safe. " 

" In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening with- 
hold not thy hand ; for thou knowest not whether shall 
prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be 
alike good." 

" Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it 
after many days." 

Let your hfe speak for God, your every-day walk, every 
thought, word, deed, moving muscle. Preach by your pen 
— the " pen of a ready writer." Preach by silent messen- 
gers, leaves for healing the nations, Gospel books, tracts, 
periodicals. 

* ' Scatter ye seeds, and flowers will spring ; 
Strew them at broadcast o'er hill and glen : 
Sow in your garden, and time will bring 
Bright flowers, with seeds to scatter again." 

All we can do is to sow the seed in faith, water it with 
prayer as the dew of heaven. 

** Let us remember how 
The Holy One was doing good to all, 

And let us ever now, 
When on his name we call, 
Ask that his Spirit on our hearts may fall." 

" Some seeds, doubtless, will fall by the wayside, some on 
stony places, some among thorns, but other into good 
ground." 



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